Charities!

Engsoc will be supporting Free the Children this term by raising money to build a school in rural areas of the Udaipur district in India. It costs about $8500 to build a school for Free the Children, but if the full amount isn’t raised, the money will still go towards building a school because Free the Children can match us with other groups until the full amount is made.

Despite recent economic gains, India still faces pressing problems such as over-population, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife. India is the second most populous country in the world after China. Malnutrition affects nearly half of all children under 5. Free the Children concentrates its efforts on rural areas of northern India since it is an area that has long been forgotten by the Indian government. The rural areas have little education, water, income generation activities, and health care services, leading to an extremely low quality of life. These areas also have the highest primary school dropout rate in India due to poor and distant educational facilities, the need for children to work, and the lack of educational and health support.  Free the Children has therefore engaged several communities in the Udaipur district to implement their Adopt-A-Village program. Through this program, Free the Children works in partnership with these communities to eliminate obstacles that prevent children from accessing education, engaging community members in development and education projects.

Many children in the rural communities in the Udaipur district do not have access to education. In most cases, there are no local school and children have to walk long distances to reach the nearest school. In the communities where schools do exist, they lack electricity, the infrastructure is often dilapidated, and the number of students has long outgrown the capacity of the classrooms. Free the Children works towards building schools and repairing existing infrastructure, while supporting the local economies by hiring local men and women to help with the construction. Free the Children’s schools are built in central locations so all community members have access to the facilities and children don’t need to walk long distances to go to school.

To support this effort, the charities directors will be holding a number of events, including:

• Pancake Breakfasts!
• Mini Golf!
• Float Day!
• A community car wash!
• Purpling for charity!

Pancake Breakfasts are held every other Tuesday in CPH foyer. For $2 you can get 3 delicious, freshly-made pancakes with or without chocolate chips and syrup. Yum!

Mini Golf was held on May 26, and was a HUGE success! With enough interest, we may hold it again.

Float Day will be held on June 16th. For just $2, you can get a delicious float. What is a float? It’s a cup of delicious made of vanilla ice cream and a pop of your choice.

What a way to cool off from the summer heat! We will be holding a community car wash on Sunday, July 18th.

On July 21st, you will be able to dye yourself purple for charity. For a donation (or pledges adding up to) $100, you can dye your whole body purple, just in time for the last EngSoc meeting and a night at Bomber! Other donation/purpling levels are to be determined.

Look out for posters, Event-A-Tron ads, and emails from the mailing list for more information or volunteer requests for these events.

All proceeds from all events will benefit Free the Children.