Lighting up WLU
Ornamenting the Quad with a candlelight display, Nov. 5 saw the Charity Ball, in conjunction with Winter Carnival, put on their annual Luminera event. The event began at 9:00 p.m. and ran over the course of an hour.
“People buy candles ahead of time and put who it’s for and who they are dedicating it to on the outside of the bag,” explained Kendra Fillingham, president of Charity Ball and organizer of the event.
“The bags then go all around the Quad. It looks really pretty.”
Speaking about the goals of the event, Fillingham said the event was entirely for charity, with all the proceeds going to the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region.
“Sexual assault has been a growing issue around the Laurier campus the past few years,” Fillingham stated. “All the proceeds from the event go to the charity. None of it is going back to Charity Ball.”
Katie Oosterhof, who deals with promoting awareness within Charity Ball, believes the event is a good way to commemorate those important in our lives.
“It allows for people to honour and remember those who they care about,” she said.
J.C. Saunders, a volunteer with Charity Ball who attended the event, said he participated because he felt it was the right thing to do.
“I felt a responsibility being a part of Charity Ball and I liked the charity they supported.”
Saunders also expanded upon why he thought Luminera was an important event for the Laurier community.
“It’s a great fundraising technique, plus it’s a good way to pay respect through remembrance,” he said.
“We try and support local charities each year and decided this year sexual assault has been a pressing issue on campus,” Oosterhof said.
Teaming up with Winter Carnival, Fillingham continued, helped in the organizing of the event.
“So far it’s been very successful and we’re happy to have Winter Carnival’s support.”
Oosterhof said that they raised money through a competition amongst the different teams in this year’s carnival. However, while the element of competition was present, the overall goal was still to raise money for charity.
“It was a competition for the teams [involved with] Winter Carnival, but we got all of the money to give back to charities,” she said.
Looking at how the night went as a whole, Fillingham thought it was a success.
“We raised a lot of money for charity and met our goals for what we wanted to raise.”
