This is the 10th year that the West Chester University Honors College students have organized a community fair to support children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, which has the highest AIDS prevalence of any country in the world.
More than 140 WCU students have traveled there on one of the regular Honors College service learning trips and have seen firsthand both the tragedy and the hope as they volunteered at South African schools and orphanages, where three million children have been orphaned due to AIDS, a university press release said.
This year’s Aid to South Africa fair will be held Sunday, April 12, from noon to 4 p.m. in Hollinger Field House. The fundraiser, which is the honors students’ annual keystone philanthropic event, is open to the community.
For the first time, Aid to South Africa includes a 5K race, as well as the annual soccer tournament. Live bands, performances from the University’s a cappella groups, the student radio station WCUR, food, carnival games, and raffle prizes will provide entertainment.
The event has raised more than $70,000 for the South African organizations that West Chester students, faculty, and staff have visited during biennial research/service trips: H.E.L.P. Ministries Soup Kitchen, which provides a hot meal for 6,000 school children; Nkosi's Haven for HIV/AIDS orphans as well as impoverished HIV-positive mothers and their children; Sparrow Village Orphanage, where all the children have AIDS; and Mosaic, which supports a sustainable orphan-care model and skills training for foster families.
Because the funds go directly to the charities, a donation as small as $1 will feed one child for one day. It takes only $10 to feed 10 children for one week, the release said. For Aid to South Africa donation information, email student director Haley E. Paiva at HP790794@wcupa.edu.
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