It’s the time of year where the eager students of California Baptist University prepare to embark on their International Service Projects and United States Projects. One of the major questions that arise is the financial need for which these projects call. They range from $2,500-$3,500, and the participants must accumulate the funds on their own.
The Office of Mobilization offers opportunities such as selling coffee, jewelry, candles and candy to help fundraise. Students are currently being offered the chance to sell coffee from the Phoenix Community Coffee Co.
Kerri Horton, MOB financial coordinator, said the coffee company is an organization started by pastors and missionaries to provide monetary support to minister to the communities that they are working in, specifically in South America, where much of the coffee is grown. The organization donates $4 for each pound that is sold. So far, more than CBU 50 students have signed up to participate.
Along with the fundraisers MOB offers, students are taking independent initiatives to fulfill their need.
James Bogdanovich, freshman kinesiology major, watches how-to videos on making bracelets so he can sell them to family and friends.
“I don’t usually do crafty things like this, but they told me when I was given a team that we needed to come up with a few fundraisers to help raise the funds to go,” Bogdanovich said. “I thought that it would be something more unique than a car wash or yard sale.”
Another freshman, Jessie Chappell, sent her letters in hopes of getting a response and received a surprisingly generous donation of $1,000 from a family friend.
“When I got the check it really caught me off guard,” said Chappell, a pre-nursing major. “I could really see God working in my life and moving me toward my purpose. It’s inspirational to see how people can be so incredibly generous.”
As another unique fundraiser, team Spain will be selling hand-knitted hats and headbands outside of the Alumni Dining Commons from Feb. 11-15.
“No two hats are alike,” said Dr. Lisa Hernandez, leader of the team. She is an associate professor of mathematics and chair of the Natural and Mathematical Sciences.
Whether it is signing up to sell products through MOB, or fashioning bracelets with their own two hands, CBU students are readily collecting the funds required to send them throughout the United States and overseas to share their faith in Jesus Christ.
For more information about Phoenix Community Coffee Co., visit www.calbaptist.greatcoffeegreatcause.com.
