SMU Habitat for Humanity is busy fundraising on campus to enable a group of students to answer a call for help from outside U.S. borders. The Global Villages Trip, a service expedition to Asuncion, Paraguay, will fund and build a habitat house in Paraguay.
When it comes to fundraising, The SMU Habitat chapter has kicked fundraising projects into high gear and will not stop until this trip becomes a reality.
“My mom was worried that I really would sell my kidney on eBay,” Katie Brattain, co-president of the Habitat Chapter, said.
Many donations have been received through Habitat’s letter-writing campaign as well as Friday night “date dash” dinners. Tom Thumb donates the food for this event and students support the cause by paying an entrance fee. Jane Parker, the Blitz Build’s volunteer coordinator, offered this advice: “the key to asking for money is giving donors something in return.”
The “date dash” dinner tradition is an example of how Habitat has taken this advice to heart.
A potential fund-raiser will include the Student Art Association, where participants will take part in an Art Walk around the flagpole. SMU Habitat for Humanity is trying to include the entire campus in this fundraising campaign by teaming up with Stromboli’s. Stromboli’s will give 10 percent of the proceeds obtained by students with a Habitat coupon on Sundays and Mondays in March and April to the project in Paraguay.
“My favorite part about Habitat this year is our motivation to fund raise,” Habitat Chapter member Brittany Weltner said. “In the last 2 months we have raised more than $8,000 for our Global Village Trip.”
The SMU Habitat Chapter intends to bring more students on this trip each year. By allowing students to organize builds and fundraise through projects and donations, SMU Habitat for Humanity provides students with the tools necessary to engage in local and global communities.
“It requires a selfless attitude because this is being done for others, not ourselves,” Habitat Chapter member Kaitlin Meyer said. “The Global Village Trip is going to give the SMU Habitat chapter the opportunity to do the same thing for extremely impoverished families of Paraguay. This time we are taking our tools out of Dallas and into a third world country.”
