On May 4 at 1:00 p.m., California Lutheran University’s CollegeLife is hosting a charity volleyball tournament in the sand pits near South Hall. The event is being held to raise money for Busuma, a village in Uganda.
“We’re raising money because they don’t have access to clean water, so they’re starving from disease,” said sophomore Andrew Worthley, a member of CollegeLife. “Our goal is to raise $2,000 to buy water filtration systems to send over so they can have clean water.”
The tournament is a four-on-four team tournament and to enroll, each person donates $15 to the cause.
“I attend a church in Simi Valley and my pastor and his wife are good friends with the missionary that works in this village,” Worthley said. “She told them that if we can raise $3,000, it can provide water filtration systems for two years. I took it upon myself to make a commitment and try to raise a part of that, and I figured the school provides a good family foundation to try to do that collectively.”
Hot dogs and treats will be given at the event and anyone who donates $15 to the cause will receive a T-shirt.
“We are getting donations through students who are signing up,” said junior and president of CollegeLife Kendra Varney. “They get a T-shirt for joining a team and donations from professors or anyone who wants to donate to the cause is welcome.”
Along with raising money and awareness for this cause, members of the club hope to build a community.
“Hopefully, this will bring everybody together and people will meet each other for fun,” said sophomore and club member Ashlee Bowen. “It’s not targeted at any group specifically. It’s just bringing in all sorts of people. Hopefully, everyone will have a good time and make new friends.”
This is CollegeLife’s first charity event that is held on CLU’s campus.
“We go to Mexico every semester, usually a weekend or three day trip. We haven’t done a sport-affiliated competition like this before where we’ve had a lot of students involved,” Varney said. “It’s pretty cool to have a tournament and a fundraiser that will impact Uganda and getting the college students involved.”
Members of the club have planned this event since before spring break.
“I’m hoping for a good time and that we raise enough money. We’ve really been praying about it and hoping that it is something that people enjoy,” Bowen said. “It’s just awesome that we are able to put on something like this on campus because there is not always a lot to do on the weekends.”
Enrollments for the tournament and those who wish to donate to the charity have until the day of the event. For further information about the charity and donations, contact Worthley at [email protected].
Alexa Datuin
Staff Writer
Published April 30, 2014
