Sarah Martinez, the International Food and Cultures club president, decided to host a fundraiser, from Nov. 18-22, to earn money for those affected by the typhoon in the Philippines.

“I came up the idea of the fundraiser because my family is originally from the Philippines and I wanted to help out the families that are still there and suffering. We agreed as a group to sell cookies and accept donations. All of the money we raised was donated straight to the Red Cross foundation,” club president Sarah Martinez said.

The Red Cross is an association that gives medical and financial support to families affected by disasters through donations.

“We choose to send our fundraised money to the Red Cross because they are a very trustworthy foundation that does great work throughout the world,” Martinez said.

Through donation boxes in the history buildings and the cookies sold, the club was able to raise $244.50, meeting their goal.

“I was expecting to only raise around $100 because the fundraiser didn’t last that long since we wanted to get the money sent out as soon as possible. We also didn’t get a chance to put it in the morning announcements, so not a lot of people knew about it. So, I’m actually very happy that we more than doubled our goal,” member Katelin Choe said.

The club meets every odd Tuesday to talk about different cultures, and they also bring foods from around the world. However, this is the first fundraiser that they have conducted.

“We felt it was really important to do this fundraiser because it is a big deal in the world right now. We wanted to help make a change, even if it was a little one, we wanted to have some impact on a different culture on the other side of the world,” Choe said.

by OLIVIA GRAHL