The Facts: This week the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and Student Government allowed students in the brickyard to dunk them for a good cause.
Our View: Events like the dunk tank are great exposure not only for charities, but also for the student organizations that sponsor them.
Monday, the Student Athletic Advisory Committee provided students the chance to support local charities and display their embarrassing ball-throwing skills. Students who made a donation were given a chance to submerge our coaches and Athletic Director Lee Fowler in frigid waters. They used a contraption commonly referred to as a “dunk tank.”
The SAAC hosted the event for a good cause, the Raleigh-based charity Imagine No Hunger. Imagine No Hunger regularly provides lunches for the Raleigh homeless.
Wednesday, Student Government took multiple plunges in their dunk tank. Their tank was co-sponsored by AT&T, who also pledged to match the money raised by SG. It was a great way for students to meet their student leaders while supporting Urban Ministries of Raleigh. Student Body President Jim Ceresnak said the tank is a great way to show that N.C. State students care about the surrounding community.
Urban Ministries of Raleigh is a charity that provides urgent assistance for community’s needy. It also provides a means for them to become self-sufficient in addition to housing, medical care, food assistance and many other services.
Fun, charitable activities like dunk tanks are great for the whole community. Students need them psychologically as much as charities need them financially. Hopefully, activities like the dunk tanks will be rolled out many times in the future. Helping out a charity on your way to class is convenient and fun. Also, causing your peers to fall into a watery abyss never gets old.
In addition to dunking, it would be great if students took time out of their daily blocks of video gaming and beer guzzling to volunteer at one of the above-mentioned charities or any others in the area. Not for job and graduate school applications, but out of actual concern for the needy.
It is great to support charitable organizations that “teach a man to fish” to help them avoid the welfare cycle. Take SAAC and SG’s examples to heart and give some of your time to charity to help those in the local community.
