The Carolina Latinx Collaboration has teamed up with the Campus Y to raise money for natural disaster relief in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
The organizations also include Students United for Immigrant Equality and the Carolina Hispanic Association. Together, they are selling pan dulce, a type of Mexican sweet bread. The fundraising efforts began last Wednesday, and representatives from the organizations will be selling the bread again on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Pit.
Event organizer Carlos Mendiola, co-director of outreach at the Campus Y, said these fundraisers are important because Puerto Rico suffered more damage than many people realize. He said many places are currently inaccessible due to damaged bridges, and there are still people who cannot be contacted because of power outages.
“It’s definitely a lot worse than what we’ve seen so far. We had one alumni from Puerto Rico just fly in who went to our fundraiser and he was showing us pictures of the devastation and whole forests would be gone,” Mendiola said. “The pictures we look at of deforestation in the Amazon, that’s what happened over there and it’s just because of the winds from a hurricane.”
According to Gaby Aleman, the president of CHispA, they have raised over $1,000 and are hoping to reach $2,000 with their final fundraiser on Thursday. Half of the proceeds will benefit United for Puerto Rico, an organization providing hurricane relief. The rest of the proceeds will go towards earthquake relief in Mexico.
These fundraisers coincide with Latinx Heritage Month, and they are the first events to incorporate community service with the cultural education provided during September and October.
Latinx Heritage Month programs typically aim to educate students on Latinx culture and issues in that community. The devastation caused by natural disasters has presented the opportunity to combine educating students and helping others.
“This has been a learning moment for a lot of people because a lot of people didn’t know that Puerto Ricans are Americans, which is shocking because they’ve had American citizenship for over 100 years,” Aleman said.
After the success of their first fundraiser, they doubled their stock for the next sale. Mendiola said one of the most interesting things about the fundraisers has been how eager everyone has been to get involved, from the organizations coordinating them to the students donating money.
