Amigos De Las Americas hosted their annual Mexican Dinner Fundraiser as a final attempt to round up donations before their volunteers leave for Latin American countries during the summer. The dinner, held on April 3 at Holmeswood Baptist Church, was converted to a lunch this year to make time for the Royals’ opening season home game. At the fundraiser, volunteers hosted guests with authentic Mexican food and a raffle.
Participants of the raffle could enter to win prizes that included Royals tickets or gift certificates to various local shops and restaurants including Room 39 and Bread and Butter Concepts. The event was open to anyone who bought a ticket. The money raised from the tickets and raffle will directly help the Amigos’ volunteers in the Kansas City chapter to buy transportation and supplies while in country.
“The dinner is really great for us because it’s one of our last chances to raise some money for our projects,” junior Emily Garverick said. “It was so nice of everyone to come out and we appreciated all the support.”
As the final fundraiser of three that Amigos hosts throughout the year — the others include a fresh fruit sale and a letter writing campaign — the Mexican dinner was seen as a last chance to bring in any potential donations. Amigos volunteers are responsible for fundraising a majority of their trip and work throughout the year to achieve this goal. After this dinner, they will have two more training sessions and a retreat where they will continue to practice their Spanish speaking skills and prepare for health and safety situations they might encounter while in Latin America.
“I think the fundraiser went really well,” junior Emily Walter said. “I saw a lot of familiar faces as well as some people I didn’t know and everyone looked like they were having a great time.”