Students in the Sport and Event Management Department hosted an April 27 charity dinner, raising $800 in support of Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The event raised $800 in support of Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc., a nonprofit agency serving deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind individuals.
The fundraising concept evolved from a class conversation led by Lauren Miskovsky ’18, a sport and event management major, who was also enrolled in a sign language class during the spring semester. According to Walker, Miskovsky shared details of a restaurant in Toronto, Canada, called Signs, where guests are given menus with illustrations of hand signs that correlate with various food options, and guests then “sign” the item to the all-deaf wait staff.
The charity event was held in the Richard McBride Gathering Space in the Numen Lumen Pavilion and more than 125 people participated in the taco dinner prepared by class members. Several students from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro also volunteered as interpreters and servers at the dinner.
The “Event Management” course is a service-learning class where students integrate a local nonprofit into the planning and management of an event, while trying to raise funds to support the organization’s core mission. While organizing the dinner, students were divided into three committees: sponsorship, operations and marketing.
Several local businesses provided support through various gift donations. These businesses included: Target, Play It Again SPORTS, Holly Hill Mall and Business Center, The Fat Frogg, Bed Bath & Beyond, Salon Bronze, Mellow Mushroom, Yo Zone and La Cocina. Brixx Wood Fired Pizza also participated in a profit share with donations supporting the final gift.
The SEM class thanked Jan Register, program assistant of the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, for “her invaluable assistance with our efforts.”