Club Highlight: Philanthropy Club

I am one of the co-leaders of the philanthropy club along with Vince Duque. We both have been co-leaders since Fall 2019. We took on the club with big hopes for the club. So far, we have worked for many causes and supported them in multiple ways.

What is Philanthropy Club?

Philanthropy is defined as the desire to aid in the welfare of people, normally by donation of money to different causes. Though philanthropy can be giving back through volunteering, holding drives, donating, and similar ways to give back. The philanthropy club’s goal is to promote small acts of kindness within and outside the LIM Community.

What have we done?

We have worked with a few different organizations. One organization we have worked with is Dorot. This organization is a nonprofit Jewish organization that organizes food deliveries and visits with the elderly in the community of NYC.

Many elderly people in NYC cannot leave their homes due to a disability, have no family, or some other circumstance that leaves them alone most of the time. Dorot aids in relieving the loneliness from their lives by providing food deliveries and visits. The first step was that we broke the volunteers into pairs, and they each received an assigned person to visit.

When my partner and I arrived, we met a wonderful woman. She was so excited to have people to talk to. We sat there for a little over an hour and listened to her life story. She was so sweet and to see how happy she was to meet us. She had prepared a whole table of pictures. We sat in her living room and had long a conversation. It was a very rewarding experience. As we left, I could tell she was very happy but sad the experience was over. When we met up with the rest of the club, we exchanged stories. We all were so happy about the joy we had brought to all the people we visited. We decided that it had to be something we continued to do.

The second organization that we have worked with is Rise of Broken Women, which is a nonprofit that aids homeless women. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve always have looked for ways to help the homeless. I thought it made sense that the main ways to volunteer were giving food and clothes. It did not dawn on me the homeless women lack basic needs such as feminine care items.

I was introduced to Charlee, the founder of Rising of Broken Women. Being homeless herself at one point, she knew the plight of being homeless. I remember talking to her for the first time, and she opened my eyes to all the issues that homeless people must face. I know the philanthropy club plan in the Fall or Spring to hold a feminine care drive and makeovers for homeless women. We also have done a toy drive for this nonprofit in which we were the largest donor. The toys were for homeless children that would not have a present otherwise. I also loved that the mothers got to pick the toy so at least part of it was from them. Overall, I love this organization and working with them.

We also have participated in raising money for breast cancer awareness and in the walk, we far exceeded our goal amount and were very pleased with how much we raised. It was amazing how the LIM community came together and donated money to the cause. Most of the work we do as a club does depend on the LIM community. I hope this blog makes you inspired to come volunteer or donate to our causes or even better join. The rewards of our work are great because they make a difference and make another person’s life better. We plan to work with many more organizations this coming year.

How do I get involved?

One thing that is different about the club is that we are not a membership-based club. We are made of a core group. It is set up like a corporation.  Vince acts as the CFO and I act as the COO. Then, there are two main departments which are communications and creative design. We have headed for each department, and with new members, they would report to their department head. We do have an event planning department in which we are seeking people. We hold interest meetings at least once a semester.

This club is great for people who want to volunteer and aid different communities. While we do have fundraisers, we know that LIM is filled with just college students so we find other ways to help. We also just promote kindness on campus. We hope to see everyone in the fall.