Our chapter at Wayne State University founded just last October fundraised $2000 towards building a Wawa Wasi day care center roof in Lima, Peru! Read our Q&A below on their motivations for fundraising and hopes for this project:
What it is that motivated your chapter to fundraise for a MEDLIFE project?
The main factor that motivated us to fundraise for a MEDLIFE project was to have a specific goal that we could tell our chapter. This is Wayne State’s first year as a MEDLIFE chapter and it is crucial to get as many people together for support. One idea that our e-board decided on was to fund a specific MEDLIFE project so that our members would have a concrete idea of what our money was going towards and they would be more motivated to work toward our goal. This way, we developed a strong member pool in our first year and have set a firm foundation for the years to come.
Why did you choose this particular project to support?
The main reason to fundraise for Wawa Wasi was because we are partnered with a local organization, Woodbridge Community Youth Center. They focus on providing a safe, studious, and nutritious environment for the youth of Detroit during after school hours, when their parents are still at work. Instead of the children spending time at home or in their neighborhoods unsupervised and getting influenced by the negative environment that surrounds them, the organization provides them a positive environment with volunteer tutors to help the children with school work. Similarly, Wawawasi provides a safe and nutritious environment to the children of Peru so the mothers can go out and continue their education or work and seeing the impact Woodbridge has on the Detroit Community, we wanted to fundraise for the similar cause to create a large impact on their community.
How did you fundraise for the project?
We fundraised for this project with several different small events: bake sales (including samosas!), friendship bracelet sales, change wars, Donors Play, and henna tattoos. Also, our Masquerade dance fundraised about $440 that went directly to the fundraiser; our remarkable e-board worked hard on every fundraising event and donated a lot of their time and money so everything we made during the fundraisers was 100% profit. We fundraised for a total of about six months and reached our goal of $2000 on point!
What do you hope to see come out of this project?
We hope that more mothers are able to feel relieved that their children are in a safe and nutritious environment, and they take advantage of the opportunity to educate themselves or find a job so they can provide additional income to the household. In addition to the extra monetary flow through the families, we believe that once the children are in an environment that can give them the resources and tools they need, they can build their future on the pillars of success. Through this project, we hope to see a sustainable impact in the lives of the families living in the area.
Has your chapter participated on a Mobile Clinic before?
We have had three people from our chapter go on a Mobile Clinic, and one person will be tagging along with Michigan State during the May 5 Mobile Clinics. Of the three students who went, we had one go with the University of Michigan chapter to Ecuador in December, and the other two students went to Lima, Peru in March.