This week, you might have noticed an additional fixture on the area outside of the DAC on its 33rd and Market side. An encampment stood out among the various group fitness classes and loitering sun-loving students. The fort, which was held together by duct tape and tarp and cardboard boxes, wasn’t there just for fun: it was there to raise awareness for WeServe’s Two Dollar a Day campaign, which was held from April 16 to April 17.
About 30 Drexel students in the organization helped construct the structure and then stay in the fort for the length of the event to better understand how poverty affects daily life and to spread awareness of global poverty by starting up conversations with other students and raising money for charity. The students had to pool their resources to not only make their makeshift home but also to feed themselves on just $2 a day, as the name of the campaign suggests.
We applaud the WeServe organization founded in the School of Biomedical Engineering for coming up with an original and innovative approach to get their message across to students in a way that doesn’t require them to stand behind a table or hold a bake sale or a car wash. We can honestly say we’ve never seen an organization take a stand like this and the in-your-face approach definitely got students talking about the cause, if not getting more involved and donating to it. WeServe practiced what they preached and we respect them all the more for it.
Maybe it was because the eyesore of a structure on the otherwise picturesque landscape outside of the lawn. Maybe it was because we had to walk by it to and from classes. Maybe it was because we saw and recognized students participating in the event. Whatever the reason, we saw the WeServe team out and about and we hope that for our next event we will be just as active in the Drexel community while trying to encourage students to participate.