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30 Days for 30 Orphans Campaign

By Caterina Amaral

Ryerson Muslim Students’ Association has brought students across campus to support the 30 Days for 30 Orphans campaign.

The campaign aims to reach out and sponsor children from around the world.

As a collective, students met the university’s challenge to raise $50,000. Now Ryerson has donated $10,000 to the cause. By the end of the campaign on Feb. 13, the group had raised over $70,000, according to Radwan Al-Nachawati, a second-year business management marketing student. “Students are capable of doing so much, they just need a platform to do it.”

Al-Nachawati is one of the coordinators for Ryerson MSA’s subdivision, Orphan Sponsorship Program.

Since the start of the campaign on Jan. 20, a dozen student societies and groups joined the campaign, including the Ryerson Commerce Society, Ryerson Science Society, Ryerson Communication and Design Society and the Ryerson Nursing Course Union.

Al-Nachawati said he wants to make it clear that the campaign “isn’t only an MSA initiative. This is a Ryerson initiative.”

The other seven student groups involved were the Ryerson Indian Students’ Association, Ryerson Tamil Students Association, Ryerson Pakistani Students’ Association, Ryerson Sikhs Students Association, Egyptian Student Association and United Black Students Ryerson.

In terms of fundraising the engineering faculty was in the lead near the end of the campaign with roughly $12,000, according to Al-Nachawati.

Fourth-year computer engineering student, Musab Mobashir, was the leading individual fundraiser.

“I wanna help as many people as I can, especially those who are less fortunate. I have a really busy schedule, so I’m not able to physically help out as much. So, by virally or encouraging others – whatever I can do, I try to do,” he said.

The faculty or club with the largest contribution and the individual with the most fundraised will win a tablet. Ryerson MSA will announce the winning organization and individual at an upcoming dinner that has yet to be announced.

When Al-Nachawati was asked to confirm if Mobashir still was the single largest contributor, he laughed and said, “we have a prize for the top contributor as well. I don’t know even think he knows that.”

“I personally don’t like to get my name out,” Mobashir said, but still encouraged people through text message, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to donate using Prophet Muhammad as an example.

Mobashir explained that in Islam, the Prophet was an orphan himself who advocated to care for and nourish children, especially orphans.

In his final year at Ryerson, Mobashir has rallied to raise $7,220 and sponsor 10 orphans in total across Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kashmir, Pakistan, Palestine and Syria.

Still, this year’s successful campaign did encounter a minor hitch. Currently all the funds raised cannot be distributed because of  Ryerson MSA’s recent decission to terminate their partnership with NGO Human Concern International due to a  Toronto Sun report that HCI has donated to terrorist-affiliated financing organization IRFAN-Canada.

Ryerson MSA President is waiting for an official statement from Giveffect, the online platform where people placed their donations.

Despite HCI’s relation with Ryerson MSA now, campaigners have remained positive and enthusiastic. People are still committed to pledges they have made for reaching their fundraising goal.

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