Cheers for Charity sets their sights on becoming an official Lee club
C4C allows customers to donate to a charity of the customer's choice in exchange for a cup of hot chocolate.
Photo by Stephen Busic
Student-led project Cheers for Charity (C4C), is looking to become an official club on Lee University's campus this semester.
C4C President and sophomore math education major Stephen Busic founded the project in the fall of 2017 to raise money in support of local and international charities.
To raise money for the charities, Busic took his mother's hot chocolate recipe and sold it from a portable drink cart that he had designed and built from scratch.
Busic, with help from a team of students, set up the cart on the Pedestrian Mall on campus and sold cups of hot chocolate to passersby.
The unique aspect of C4C is that customers are able to donate their purchase of hot chocolate to a charity of their choice.
This operation took place for a day and a half during finals week. Over this 36-hour period, C4C raised $643. All of the proceeds were then given to the various charities, according to Busic.
Moving forward, Busic’s goal is to provide an outlet for people to serve others and support charities that they are passionate about.
“It gives the customers a personal aspect to it: they can own where their money is going. It maximizes generosity,” said Busic. “What we effectively get is everyone donating to the charity that they’re most likely to be the most interested in.”
Although C4C allows participants to donate to any charity, the project chooses a feature charity to highlight.
The featured charity of 2017 was Mila’s Miracle Foundation, a project created to find a cure for Batten’s disease. C4C is currently deciding which charity will be featured for spring 2019.
Photo by Stephen Busic
C4C Vice President Madison Jett explained how exciting it is to be able to get people involved in supporting charities that motivate them.
“We are hoping that this club becomes a place for all types of people to serve through the strengths they have to offer,” Jett said.
Busic is currently working to make C4C an official Lee University club. Current club members are creating a constitution and pursuing faculty sponsorship, with the goal of becoming an official club by spring break 2019.
Sophomore TESOL major Ellie Long volunteered during C4C’s event last year by making beverages and raising awareness.
Long said she appreciates the selfless nature of C4C and the club’s opportunities to meet new people and to have meaningful conversations.
“We weren't just trying to sell drinks. We were starting conversations,” said Long. “The people who came would stick around and sometimes buy multiple cups of hot chocolate that would then go straight to a charity, but then we would have life talks about charities or about life difficulties.”
C4C has been granted six days to sell food or drink this semester. Dates of operation are to be determined soon by C4C members, who are optimistic due to a longer selling period than they had in 2017.
With menu planning already taking place, customers can expect strawberry, peppermint, cinnamon hazelnut and salted caramel hot chocolate available at the drink cart this semester.
For more information about C4C, or if you are interested in volunteering alongside the club contact Stephen Busic at sbusic00@leeu.edu.
