Perhaps the most popular location at last Thursday's Community Service Fair was the Latino Heritage Month Kick-Off hosted by the De Colores service club. The event was stationed by Foley Pond and consisted of a taco sale, a bike auction and live music played by Combinacion Cubana.
The event was organized by senior psychology major Coley Braun, who is also the president of De Colores. "It was [part of] a weeklong event called Cash for Casas in which we built a house on Alumni Mall, had an information night, had sign-ups for our first trip this September and concluded with today's taco and bike sale."
De Colores relies on events such as these to fund its service trip program. "We raised almost $3,000 today, which will all go directly towards future De Colores trips," says Braun. "[On the trips,] we build houses, eat great food and play with the most adorable kids you'll meet in your life."
"The taco sale and bike sale was the most important part of our organization on campus because we do a lot of work in Mexico and with the Mexican community but having the taco sale on campus allows our efforts in Mexico to be fulfilled at LMU and its a great way to introduce the LMU community to who we are," said Braun.
A few hundred customers purchased plates with two freshly prepared tacos, rice, beans and a drink for $5 (or a la carte items).
The taco stand was manned by about a dozen volunteers, including senior Julio Vazquez, whose task was to warm up tortillas. "It feels good to know that you spend some of your time doing something you won't get any personal benefit from other than knowing that you helped others," says Vazquez, referring both to volunteering at the event and participating in the service trips to Mexico.
The adjacent silent bike auction allowed students and guests to browse through a few dozen used bicycles and make bids for the ones they wanted. "It's been going well; we sold 20 bikes in the first 30 minutes," says senior accounting major Lady Disimulacion, a volunteer at the bike auction stand. "It all goes to a great cause."
Brendan Busse, Advisor for De Colores, and Director for Service and Justice for the office of Campus Ministry said, "We made $2,300 approximately from bike sales alone, and we are grateful for public safety and the recycling center on campus for their help with giving us the bikes."
Freshman Sean Okaguchi, an undeclared liberal arts major, was impressed with the selection of used bikes available. "I saw that big box-like thing advertising the De Colores Bike sale, so I thought I should check it out," said Okaguchi, referring to the brightly painted house that has been stationed in Alumni Mall.
Every year, De Colores organizes 10 service trips to Tijuana, Mexico. Each takes around 30 LMU students. The next trip is October 12-14th and sign up date is October 1. To get involved, visit Campus Ministry or contact coleybraun@gmail.com.
Additional reporting by Jessica Boyd.
