Rutgers students raise money for children in need
The Chinese Student Organization (CSO) collaborated with Love Without Boundaries to raise money for charities at their Children’s Annual Remembrance Event (CARE) on Sunday night in the Busch Student Center.
Money accumulated through ticket sales, donations and raffle tickets go to Love Without Boundaries, which aids impoverished children in China, Cambodia and Uganda. A series of performances by East Asian-centered organizations entertained guests.
“This is our one way to give back to the community,” said Barry Li, president of the CSO. “We are one of the only cultural organizations to hold charity events. We are not trying to profit off of our general members but donate towards a worthy cause."
It is important for Rutgers students to see some of the conditions in China and that CARE can act as an eye opener for some, the School of Arts and Sciences senior said.
The raffle tickets handed out during the event were used toward activities such as pie-ing an executive board member, contributing to the fire noodle challenge and a chance to win prizes.
Noelle Wang, the external vice president of CSO, said preparations for this event began in the summer.
“We had a retreat early in the summer and we went to Montreal, and basically the point of the retreat is to talk about our plans for the rest of the year. Because CARE is in the first semester it is always our top priority. I am just glad we have good people to get on it on time or else it would be a big hassle,” the School of Arts and Sciences junior said.
This event shows CSO’s campus interaction with other organizations, Wang said. CSO collaborates with other University clubs to perform or attend the events.
“Ever since CARE has started we have been collaborating with Love Without Boundaries. Originally they started off helping orphans and underprivileged kids in rural parts of China, but recently they have started branching out to other countries, which is even better,” Wang said.
Wang said in addition to the banquet’s positive charity aspects, it is very effective at bringing different groups of people together. Without organizations like CSO or events like CARE, Wang said she may not have met people she has befriended.
Julia Gosztyla, president of the Rutgers Kpop Dance Cover club, performed at Sunday’s event. She said she enjoyed the event, and her favorite part was using her raffle tickets for the photobooth.
“Rutgers is a really big university and we have so many organizations, so I think the most amount of money that we are going to get from any type of fundraising is going to come out student organizations from here,” the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences junior said.
Gosztyla said the dance club has close ties with the CSO so they often perform at events for them.
The CSO has set a good precedent for fundraising for other organizations, Gosztyla said.
“I think it went well tonight. It was good, there were a lot of people and I think that because this is a paid event that they probably raised a lot of money,” she said.
Stephen Weiss is a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore majoring in philosophy. He is a staff writer with The Daily Targum.
