Keene State College’s Habitat For Humanity is partnering with Margaritas for a fundraiser to help the organization raise money for their projects.
angelique inchierca / photo editor
On Monday, April 9, anyone who shows the Noche Margarita flyer will have 20 percent of their bill go to the Keene Habitat For Humanity chapter. President of Habitat For Humanity Jordan Clauson said the proceeds from the fundraiser go to Habitat For Humanity at KSC which will then go to a location through a tithe program, which is a program that bridges Habitat For Humanity organizations together from various countries. Each year, Clauson said Habitat For Humanity chooses a different location that has been hit with a disaster to send money to, and in turn, the group in that area builds houses and works on the area. Clauson said this year, the group chose Nepal as the tithing location because they were hit with an earthquake in 2015 that killed about 9,000 people. Clauson said she feels as though it is important to help places all around the world that have been impacted by disasters. “I think any little difference you can make anywhere is really a big thing because even though it’s not affecting us, it is affecting people like us and it could just as easily be us in that situation,” Clauson said.
Junior Melissa Pierce is a member of Habitat For Humanity who said a major goal of of the organization is to make people aware of situations that others are in. “Not everyone can go build, but anyone can help raise money for a good cause by coming to the fundraiser,” Pierce said. She said that holding a fundraiser is not only a good way to raise money, but it also helps raise awareness for the group on campus and what they do. Pierce said one thing some people may not know about Habitat For Humanity is that it is international which gives the group in Keene the ability to send the proceeds over to the Nepal Habitat For Humanity.
Manager of Margarita’s in Keene Ricki Fish said the restaurant holds fundraisers often and that they are a good way to “give back to the community because giving back is important.”
Fish said any non-profit organization can fill out a form on the Margarita’s website and apply to hold a fundraiser at the restaurant. Clauson said the event at Margarita’s is not the only opportunity the organization is using as a way to raise money.
Clauson said that on April 6, the group will have a bunch of food and carnival games set up on campus and will be open to KSC students for a $4 charge. “An ideal goal between the two fundraisers would be a collective $500. It may not seem like a big, exciting amount, but it would be more than what the on-campus Habitat For Humanity has done in the past,” Clauson said. Along with the fundraising events being held, Clauson said Habitat For Humanity is currently working on building houses and said it is cool to get to know the people they are building for as they build the house.
Clauson said she first got interested in Habitat For Humanity during her first year at KSC when she joined with friends, and now as a junior, she is the president of the club. “At the time I joined, it it was more of a social thing, but it has turned into so much more than that… it is really fulfilling and rewarding to be able to see the differences you really do make in people’s lives,” Clauson said.
Margarita’s employee and KSC senior Tara Doherty said she sees holding fund-raisers at Margarita’s to be a win-win situation.
“It gives the business money by having more people come and helps the student organization raise money,” Doherty said.
Colby Dudal can be contacted at cdudal@kscequinox.com
