Sophomore Meghan Lueders raked in $1,202 for the Health Education Africa Resource Team (HEART) in Hotung Café on Oct. 16. Her Guac and Rock fundraiser brought students together over burritos, guacamole and music.
Haselden Construction, a Colorado-based company, matched the profit, bringing the night's total proceeds to $2,404. Small donations from separate fundraising should increase Lueders' total amount raised for HEART to around $2,600.
Lueders was pleased with the result. "A small amount of money can actually change a life," Lueders said. "There are so many problems that are actually fixable. You just have to have the money."
The proceeds of the event are going to fund the Women's Empowerment Equality Project (WEEP), a part of HEART. WEEP focuses on Nairobi, Kenya and specifically the city's slum, Kibera, which is home to one-third of Nairobi's population. It is the second-largest slum in Africa and one of the largest in the world.
To maximize the amount of money raised, Lueders used both donations and a raffle. Students at the event received burritos in exchange for a three-dollar donation. For one dollar students could purchase a raffle ticket for Burrito Bucks, a gift certificate for Chipotle burritos, which were given away every five minutes.
Chipotle donated 200 Burrito Bucks, 100 burritos and all of the chips and guacamole.
The Jackson Jills and the Amalgamates, two student a capella groups, performed at the event along with a DJ. Combined with the food, the performances gave the event a good vibe and created a night that "was just really fun," Lueders said.
Lueders, who interned with HEART last year in Kenya, used the fundraiser as a way to continue the work the group did despite being back in the United States.
She thought up ideas for fundraising over the summer and went to Chipotle at the beginning of the year to ask them for any donations they could provide. "Chipotle was extremely willing and helpful in the process of creating the fundraiser," she said.
According to Chipotle's Web site, it supports causes that "encourage community participation and attract additional support, meet an identified need in the community, and creatively promote positive change."
WEEP serves widows in Kibera who have children and are HIV-positive or have AIDS. The program "provides medication and food so the women are nursed back to health so they can function in the world again," Lueders said.
The organization works toward three specific goals: to prevent children from becoming orphans; to help women with HIV and AIDS become healthy, self-sufficient members of society; and to give children access to education, according to Lueders.
To do this, WEEP teaches widows to sew so they can make uniforms for children. In Kenya, education is free, but children must wear uniforms that they often cannot afford. After the widows learn to sew and make uniforms for three to four years in the program, they can graduate and go on to use their trade to support their families.
