As part of their thematic group project, ERS 316 students had the option of incorporating a charitable activity. They researched their themes’ key issues, identified and evaluated a local or international charity working on those water issues, and then created and undertook a fundraising effort to generate a donation to their charity of choice.
The “water crises” group – Msendoo, Skye, Emily, Indra and Megan – sold sets of water-themed, original art cards and donated to Water Mission to support recovery efforts after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
In their rationale for why they wanted to donate to Water Mission, the group wrote that they wanted to “provide support toward the devastating consequences of hurricanes, we sold greeting cards. Each card was sold with our mission statement on the back in order to continue spreading the word about hurricane devastation. There are three different images on the cards (prints of [Wilcox’s] paintings).” These scenes show that water is beautiful and water is life.”
The “brown and blackwater” group – Vanessa, Sam, Courtney, Melissa and Dana – designed and sold environmentally-friendly beverage koozies labeled with “be the solution to wastewater pollution”. Their intent was to spark conversation social events about how wastewater can be a resource and not just a source of pollution. This group donated to the WE foundation’s water pillar effort.
Overall, our ERS 316 students raised over $1000 to support their preferred charities.