Love In Da Club: Making time for philanthropy

New club focuses on fundraising for various causes

Spending time aiding others is something Damanpreet Garcha’s been doing since high school.

Pause for a Cause is one of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s newest clubs, and Garcha is the president. She had been a part of a philanthropic social justice-style club in her high school, and she knew as soon as she hit university that she missed it.

“Obviously, the answer was to make my own club,” Garcha says. “I had been thinking about it for a while. It took me until September last year to go ahead and start the club.”

For the first few months, Garcha’s priority was to recruit more members for the club. In November of 2015, Pause for a Cause began organizing their own events.

The inaugural event was a bake sale to raise awareness for the BC Lupus Society. Since then, the club has held events for the White Ribbon Campaign, a Valentine’s Day Positive Message event, and a bonding time for International Women’s day.

Currently, Pause for a Cause has around 35 members, and although Garcha says the club is working on more recruitment, she also noted that a smaller group of people can be advantageous.

Garcha cites the infamous Margaret Mead quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has,” as a motto that effectively describes the club.

“I really like that quote and I’ve purposely tried to keep the club small just for now because I feel like with smaller people you can get to know everyone and you can do more things together as long as they’re all committed to the cause,” she says.

One of the next projects for the club is KPU Gives Back. Her idea is to make gift baskets for women in rape relief shelters. She figures that each basket will cost about $20, and they currently have $200 so far.

Of course, Pause for a Cause is not the only social justice group at Kwantlen.

“I know, for example, there is KPIRG, which I’ve been a part of and I loved helping out with,” Garcha explains. “But, they’re more of a lobbying group, whereas I’m personally studying marketing right now and I’m also into philanthropy and fundraising and I wanted to do more of a club like that. So, the idea is that every month we do some sort of fundraising or awareness campaign.”

Currently, Pause with a Cause operates mostly out of the Richmond campus, as that’s where most of the members are based. Anyone wishing to join or ask questions can email the club at kpupauseforacause@gmail.com.

In Da Club is The Runner’s club profile series. To have your club profiled, email editor@runnermag.ca.