In the coming weeks, two different groups of UFV students from two different classes will be promoting social good as part of their required classwork, and they’re going all out to make the most of it.
Vaneet Sharma, a student in Philosophy 110: Morality and Politics, is the spokesperson for a group that was tasked with using just $20 to do the maximum amount of social good. His team decided they could make the most impact by running a raffle in support of the SPCA, spending the money on prizes to incentivize donations. Every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. until November 8, they will be set up in or near the library rotunda, trying to draw attention to their cause in exchange for prizes — and they’re also bringing a dog to help draw attention and remind people of whom the SPCA helps.
While the group doesn’t have a set goal for their fundraiser, Sharma said that his group hopes to raise “anything more than $0,” and joked that even if you don’t care about animals, you can still chip in any amount to enter the raffle while helping nonetheless. The prizes include movie passes, a basket of items from Blackwood Building Centre, and a Sephora gift card.
However, this isn’t the only course this semester to encourage students to take their learning outside of the classroom this way. Business 408: Teamwork in Organizations divided students into groups and asked them to host an event, either on or off campus, which promotes social good in some form. In the past, this has included a mini library in a park and a school chess tournament, but Yalda Dashti, Tess Frey, and Sam Sall decided to take a more active route — literally. They’re organizing a dodgeball tournament, open to students, faculty, and staff, as what Dashti calls a “great stress reliever for students around exam time.”
The event is also supporting the Abbotsford Food Bank, with participants asked to bring either non-perishable food items or monetary donations. “We wanted to support the Abbotsford Food Bank because our event will be hosted near the holidays,” Dashti explained, “which is one of the busiest times for the food bank.”
The event will take place on November 10 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and anyone interested can learn more by contacting ufvdodge@gmail.com. The team hopes to get faculty involved so that they can “have some fun with a professor vs. student competition.”
Dashti also spoke about the support from the UFV community, saying they “reached out to SUS, specifically Thanh Ma, who helped guide us in where we should look for funding / promotional help.” UFV International and Campus Recreation are also supporting the event.
The dodgeball tournament and SPCA raffle are just some of the many events held on campus to support a wide range of charities, and if these two are any indication, UFV’s professors are doing their part to encourage participation and community throughout the school.
Jeff was The Cascade's Editor in Chief for the latter half of 2022, having previously served as Digital Media Manager, Culture & Events Editor, and Opinion Editor. One time he held all three of those positions for a month, and he's not sure how he survived that. He started at The Cascade in 2016.