By Ashna Balroop
The student-led chapter of Kesem at the University of Maryland hosted a Giving Tuesday Power Hour to raise critical funds for children affected by cancer.
Kesem is an organization dedicated to supporting children through and beyond their parents’ cancer with free, fun-filled, creative programs and camps. The UMD chapter hosted multiple fundraisers throughout Giving Tuesday, a day to inspire generosity around the world, according to the Giving Tuesday Organization. Giving Tuesday took place on Dec. 3.
The fundraisers featured dare challenges, a Proteus Brews coffee giveaway, baked goods, a Monster Energy drink sale and a “Pie an Athlete” event with UMD Women’s Basketball.
The organization also hosted a fundraising dinner at &Pizza College Park before finishing with the Power Hour in the Reckord Armory.
Before the Power Hour, Kesem raised $15,000 towards their Giving Tuesday goal.
Grace O’Neill, a sophomore public health sciences major, joined Kesem this semester and attended the Power Hour.
“I had a parent who had cancer, and when I learned about this, I thought it would be a cool way to use my experiences to give back to other people,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill participated in Kesem’s Giving Tuesday events by completing dare challenges to raise money.
“Right now, I’m at about $2,100 that I’ve raised,” O’Neill said. “One of the [challenges] I just did was to take a selfie with a stranger for $5. I explained what I was doing, and then one of the people ended up donating just because I talked to them.”
O’Neill said she felt fulfilled making a difference with Kesem and appreciates knowing she is contributing.
“It takes $1,200 to send a camper to camp,” O’Neill said. “Knowing that I’m getting close to sending two campers to camp by myself is cool. I hope I can send even more by the end of [Power Hour].”
Several UMD students were motivated to join Kesem because of its mission.
Labeeba Rahman, a freshman public health science and biological sciences double major, who is specializing in neurobiology and physiology, double major, also participated in Giving Tuesday by completing dare challenges and messaging people she knew, raising $160 for the cause.
“I’ve just communicated with people that I knew, asked them and explained the message of Kesem,” Rahman said.
Joanne Park, a sophomore general biology major, participated in Giving Tuesday by volunteering at different fundraisers.
“I signed up for the bake sale and the plant and crochet sale, and it was fun and nice to be around other [like-minded] people,” Park said.
Sophomore marketing major Jayla Cole participated in the &Pizza fundraiser, where she bought pizza to support the cause, along with sharing a donation link.
Shruti Chauhan, a senior biological sciences major specializing in neurobiology and physiology, is a director at Kesem and is one of the organizers of Power Hour.
“Our goal today is to raise $47,000 which goes towards our larger goal of $95,000 for the year,” Chauhan said.
Leading up to Power Hour, Kesem has been reaching out to local businesses to garner donations for the cause, as well as planning other fundraising events.
“Activities [like these] build up the momentum and have sort of gotten us up to this point of Power Hour, which now we’re sort of reaching out to our alumni and having them send us silly, crazy dares for money,” Chauhan said. “And then also, reaching out to everybody that we know — professors, exes, roommates, all those crazy things, to get as much money as possible.”
To Chauhan, it has been great to see members come together and fight for such a good cause.
“All of our members have rallied and come to all of these events, and we started yesterday with a kick off [on] Zoom at 11:50 p.m.,” Chauhan said.
Chauhan is excited to continue to rally the members and keep raising money for Kesem.
“People do crazy things because they know it’s for a great cause,” Chauhan said. “And historically, we always hit our fundraising goal, sometimes a little bit after giving Tuesday, but we’re gonna keep working towards [$47,000], so we can get as many kids to camp.”
Featured Image: Students participate in Power Hour at the Reckord Armory. Photo by Ashna Balroop.