By Emma Russell
Student Life Editor
The current freshman class at Washington College are hosting a fundraiser to raise money for Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence.
According to their GoFundMe page, “The class of ’24 knows how tough times can be, especially this past year, and so helping out the community they learn and grow in is one of the ways to give back.”
According to freshman Grace Apostol, president of the class of ’24 freshman class, the fundraiser is being coordinated by all of the freshman class officers, and the charity was voted on by the freshman class back in December via a Google form.
“We did a lot of research on which non-profits to choose from, and we even reached out to the kids in our class who live in the community to get their input which was very helpful. We were trying to do more community based… times are hard right now and any little bit can help,” Apostol said.
According to Mid-Shore’s website their mission is “to create healthy opportunities to break the cycle of domestic violence through intervention and prevention by providing shelter, counseling, services, and advocacy for victims and abusers; and by changing society’s attitudes and systems which permit and promote such violence against women, men and families.”
“Every year, MSCFV’s team of trained, caring and knowledgeable staff work to empower over 400 victims and their 600+ children as they work on creating a violence-free self-sufficient future,” Mid-Shore’s website said.
“This is just the start of trying to give back to the community and bettering our campus and student body as a whole,” Apostol said.
“I think [the fundraiser] would be a good thing to do, instead of getting on Zoom and trying to bond as a class through that because everyone is so sick of going on Zoom for things,” Apostol said. “A majority of the kids who are on campus right now are freshmen, so having that space for us to kind of have that college experience, even though we’re still in weird times and [Chestertown] has been really accommodating for that and this is [the freshmen class’s] way of giving back to the community… and it was just a different way for our class to say, ‘we did this together, we fundraised together.’”
Apostol said she was hopeful about another opportunity to host fundraisers in the future. “I’m excited for the future, I’m excited to do more things here with our fellow WC family. I’d love to [host another fundraiser] for the fall semester and then in the spring semester, even if I’m not an officer next year, I would love to coordinate that. I think it’s a nice thing to give back to the community and do it as a class.”
For students who are unable to donate Apostol said to “Share that link. Blow that link up, share that poster everywhere and with anyone. You never know who will donate. I always say karma is real, good or bad. That good karma will come back to you even if you just share the link. Spreading the word is as important as donating.”
The fundraiser is currently open and receiving donations until May 15.
Students can donate and share the link below: https://gofund.me/b732397d
Featured Photo caption: Poster made by freshman Silvana Tipson in support of the Class of ’24’s fundraiser to support Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence. Photo Courtesy of Grace Apostol.