Tell Me More About That: Social Work Department Fundraisers

Written by: Elizabeth Patrick

Like the many other departments on the Defiance College campus, the social work department seniors are busy at work with a variety of different activities and fundraisers.

To start with, the seniors within the SWK Macro Practice class organize the student-led Pay it Forward philanthropy project every fall semester. 

Within this class, students collaborate and assess community needs. Based on what the students decide, they will then come up with a project to raise money for the people they are serving.

This year, in addition to the Staff and Faculty Flash, the seniors have decided to sell pizza kits from Drop Zone.

The types of pizza they are selling include: cheese, pepperoni, supreme and come in 10 and 14 inches with either regular or cauliflower crust.

If you are interested in purchasing a pizza kit, please contact Professor Yakos-Brown or any social work senior.

In addition to selling the Drop Zone pizza kits, the class will also be hosting a Chipotle Fundraising night. This fundraising night will take place on October 30, 2021, from 5:00 pm-9:00 pm.

Stop by and enjoy your dinner while supporting the senior social work class. When ordering online, use promo code RHH3VAG so your order counts for the social work department’s fundraiser.

If you would like to donate and cannot attend on October 30, 2021, from 12:45-2:00 pm, please stop by Professor Yakos-Brown’s room in Schauffler, Room 207.

The social work seniors appreciate any support you are willing to give to help their organization help the community.

The class also will conduct a five-county community assessment, prepare requests for grant proposals, send RFPs to approximately 50 non-profit social service agencies, and award grants to applicants that best address the identified community needs.

This year students within this class decided that their proceeds would go towards women in poverty.

For the last 12 years, the Defiance College class has awarded more than $23,000 to address transportation, hunger, unemployment, poverty, education, youth mentorship, and cultural understanding in northwest Ohio.

The senior class has set a fundraising goal of $1500, which is lower than in recent years due to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic.

As a result of the challenging times that the Covid-19 pandemic has presented everyone with, the social work seniors are working extremely hard to come up with different ways to raise money this year. Some events that they have had in the past have been canceled. For example, The Knights of Columbus have not held their annual Friday Fish Frys, and the seniors have also not been able to hold their annual bake sales on Fridays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The senior social class is working extremely hard to raise money to give to the women in poverty, and any support is genuinely appreciated.