The Hillsdale International Club brought flavors from Asia, Europe, and South America to the Grewcock Student Union last week, as a fundraiser for charity. 

The club raised $782.40 for Hope for the Fatherless, an organization which works with orphans in Ethiopia.

Senior and president Charis Linton said the fundraised amount was more than double what the club usually raises. 

“Hope for the Fatherless fits the club’s mission well,” Linton said. “It’s based out of Ethiopia, so it has an international focus, and it supports families, orphans, and it facilitates education and adoptions, essentially giving vulnerable people the support and tools to proceed in life. There’s nothing not to like about it.”

The fundraiser sold a different cultural snack or drink every day in the student union. Monday featured South Korean fish pastries, Tuesday offered Taiwanese boba tea, Wednesday sold South Korean Dalgona, Thursday presented Colombian, and Friday ended the week with Polish pierogies. 

“This way proceeds could go to charity and campus could experience foods and culture from new countries and learn about the club and charity opportunities,” Linton said. “I got the idea from the bake sales other groups do to raise funds.”

Olivia Tritchka-Stuchell, a freshman member of the club, said the fundraiser required some effort because members had to prepare all the food for the sale.

“Preparation took a minimum of two hours per table,” Linton said. “I started prepping the boba tea at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, and I finished just in time to move everything to the Union and set up before 11 a.m.”

Linton said the original lineup for the fundraising week was to have South Korea on Monday and Spain on Wednesday, but the chef for Spain fell ill.

“It was too late to find another country, and we thought we might have to cancel Wednesday,” Linton said. “Fortunately, Korea had two snacks they were planning to sell, so they volunteered to sell one snack each day so we wouldn’t have an empty day in the week.” 

Linton said the club hosts one annual fundraiser which is the group’s big fall event.

“This year we changed things up from our annual big feast to a weeklong tabling fundraiser in the union,” Linton said. “Not only did this reach more people, raising more awareness on campus, it was also less of a burden on the chefs, encouraging more club participation throughout the week.” 

Linton said the Hillsdale International Club is designed to foster community between the international and American students on campus, hosting fun, cultural-themed events to share their backgrounds. 

“International Club not only connects the international students to Hillsdale College, but also vice versa,” sophomore Ky Nam Le said. “Through many events, HIC invites the rest of the college to come and experience different cultural stories around the world and also have meaningful conversations.” 

Linton said some countries represented by students in the club include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Uganda, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Vietnam. The club also has many members who have grown up in America but who have family ties overseas. 

“I joined the club because I like the people in it, and it’s a great way to meet people from all over the world,” Tritcha-Stuchell said.

The club has an average of five events per semester, according to Linton. 

“Each semester there will be a welcome lunch, a movie night, a parents weekend dinner, a farewell to seniors dinner, and some educational panel, lecture, or a social event,” Linton said. “Then we always have a big fundraiser in the fall and our annual cultural fair in the spring. We’ve also partnered with Metz for several years now to host Oktoberfest in the dining hall.”

Anyone can join the club, Linton said. Events advertised in the Student Activities Board newsletter are for all of campus to attend, and anyone who wants to join the email list for more club-specific events simply can reach out to a club officer.

“I enjoy being part of the HIC and hopefully in the future we can introduce even more events,” Le said.