March 1 Rotary Interact Fundraiser to Send Ovens to Families in Afghanistan
In the past four years, a group of six thousand Bay Area high school students have come together to donate more than 300,000 hours of service and 500,000 dollars to local and global charities.
The organization? Interact. As the youth branch of the global service club Rotary International, Interact functions as an uplifting and empowering space for youth to cultivate themselves as leaders and responsible citizens. Within the San Francisco Bay Area, over 90 high schools work together to comprise Interact District 5170. As the largest Interact District in the world, they’ve received global recognition and success for their service efforts.
Within Santa Cruz, eleven clubs thrive. Throughout the years, Santa Cruz clubs conduct dozens of service events and fundraisers supporting different causes. In the past three years alone, Area 10 has fundraised over $15,000, volunteered over 4,500 hours of service, and raised 10,000 lbs of food.
We want to do more. We have goals of completing 5,000 hours of service, by supporting, and volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Grind out Hunger, Jacobs Heart, and Second Harvest Food Bank. And through hosting fundraisers, we hope to raise $10,000 for our International Project. This year our District has partnered with the nonprofit “Trust in Education” where we pledged to send 5,170 Solar Powered Ovens to families in Afghanistan. To reach our goals we have bake sales, gift-wrapping, and our biggest and most important fundraiser is on March 1.
We welcome you to be a part of our effort, and join us for the 3rd annual charity dinner March 1 at Peace United Church of Christ at 900 High St., Santa Cruz. Interactors are cooking food, all collected from local farms, and stores. We also are having live entertainment, and an auction!
The proceeds from the event go directly to our International Project. Every $15 is a solar oven. Meaning that each attendee will have sent an oven to Afghanistan thus impacting an entire family, all while supporting a local organization, and having a grand time!
For information and tickets please contact Oliver Borg, Area 10 Director, at area10@interact5170.org