St. Clair College students raise money to improve education in Ghana

By Kristian Beaudoin

Students of the event management program hosted a fundraiser to improve education in Jirapa, Ghana.

In association with the Ciociaro Club and the Rotary Clubs of Windsor, students held a fundraiser called An Evening for Education on Sun. April 7. The purpose was to raise money to support the Rotary Club District 6400 and their initiatives in Jirapa. The event consisted of a dinner, live music, a silent auction and a school supply drive. Dr. Godfrey Bacheyie, a Windsor doctor originally from Ghana, was also a guest speaker for the dinner.

Krista Lucier and Mahdah Mumtaz are the head coaches of the group of students who organized the fundraiser. With their interest in helping the Rotary Club of Windsor, they were paired to help lead the fundraiser.

“They basically told us ‘we want to raise $2000 for this initiative, have an event,” said Lucier.

By the end of the fundraiser, the students raised more than double their initial goal. Lucier and Mumtaz announced that $5,736 was raised for the initiative. Mumtaz said they were glad with the turnout because it was the first time they held this kind of event.

“We are over the moon. It’s so much more than we expected,” said Lucier.

The initiative includes seven Rotarians and Dr. Bacheyie going to Jirapa on May 6 for two weeks, teaching teachers from six schools methods to help children speak and read. The teachers will also be provided with school supplies for the classroom they did not own before, such as books, paper and pencils.

The leader of the initiative group going to Jirapa is Jeanne Knopf DeRoche. DeRoche said she is more than pleased with how the fundraiser turned out. DeRoche was thankful for the support given by the event planning program.

“I am not only thrilled to be here but thrilled with the enthusiasm. It is very unusual to have so many young adults help us with this project,” DeRoche said. “To get people enthused about helping children that they will never see, that they’ll never know, that’s very special. I thank everyone that’s doing this for us and these children.”