Students Raise over $180,000 to Support Pandemic Outbreak and Counter Racial Injustice
by Channing Capacchione | WeINSPIRE Reporter
BALTIMORE, Md. - What started as Oliver Pour’s mission to raise money for Project Sunshine, an organization benefiting pediatric hospital patients, during the COVID-19 pandemic, became much larger late May as protestors and activists rallied against social injustice throughout the United States. Fundraising is a challenge, and doing so during a global pandemic compounds the challenge; still this college student has devoted the past three months to doing just that. Between Pour’s leadership on two fundraising initiatives among students at Boston University, a total of over $180,000 was raised between March and early June.
Pictured: Oliver Pour, Boston University’s Student Government President
When Pour was 10 years old he walked off of his school bus with a mission: to raise money for the devastating impact of Hurricane Matthew on the people of Haiti. Going from door-to-door in his local neighborhood, Pour raised over $11,000. Philanthropy and fundraising quickly became a passion for Pour and changed the way he envisioned his ability to impact society.
Pour, a rising Junior at Boston University studying Public Relations is pursuing his passions for global change through his role as Boston University’s newly elected student President, and his involvement in TAMID Group, Boston University Hillel, and Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. In each aspect of his life, he prioritizes finding ways to bring communities together.
Pictured: Oliver Pour (second from left) along with the other Boston University Student Government Executive Board members
When the COVID-19 Pandemic outbreak shut down schools and businesses, Pour realized globally that communities were being broken apart. His mission was to unite and bring a community together through raising money for a good charity. “People are always looking for ways to get involved, they just don’t know how,” says Pour.
After calling up friends and researching organizations, Pour spearheaded the Boston University Greek Life fundraiser for Project Sunshine, supporting pediatric patients during the coronavirus pandemic.
With a goal of $10,000, the BU community and beyond beat the goal within 24 hours. Two weeks later, the fundraiser had far surpassed its goal, raising over $40,000 in total.
Roughly two months later, a cry for the fight against social injustice was raised globally in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breona Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others.
From Pour’s previous experience fundraising, he knew it was time to step-up to the plate again.
“I do not stand for inequality, a problem for people of color is a problem for me,” says Pour.
“Everyone can post something on social media, it takes 20 seconds. But does a social media post physically do something? Not as much as something tangible.”
Collaborating with The Boston University Black Student Union (the club is commonly referred to as “Umoja,” the Swahili word for “unity”), Boston University Student Government created the “Boston University Student Organizations Fight for Social Justice” GoFundMe. Within two hours the goal of $10,000 was reached, and they didn’t stop there.
“We made a statement through student government, but it wasn’t enough,” says Pour. “We began outreach to other student clubs and organizations. By beating our goal in two hours, it blew my mind how the community was coming together.”
The initiative modeled by Boston University community members made it possible for the fundraiser to be sponsored and supported by over 160 student clubs, aiding via social outreach and donation collections. A group chat that began as a group of 30 student leaders, expanded to over 240 individuals all working together for the goal of achieving the $100,000 mark by the end of the fundraiser on Monday, June 8th.
“It’s a tight situation. People are telling me they can’t donate,” says Pour. “That’s fine, they can use social media to post resources, guides, flyers, reach out to friends and family. Everyone can do their part. It’s about finding what is best for you and how you can help.” With individual donors anywhere from $5 to $500 each, the efforts put into this fundraiser affirm every dollar counts.
“The fundraiser is bigger than just raising money. The best part about this is the community is really coming together. The fundraiser will end, but the relationships that were built out of this will not,” says Pour.
Umoja’s President and former Internal Affairs Advisor, Stephanie Tavares, has previously worked at Boston University’s “Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground.” Just this past spring, the University had a grand opening for the new center opening on campus. With notable alumni including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and former Dean of BU’s Chapel, Howard Thurman, the university promotes students establishing unity amongst themselves through the concept of “common ground” and shared experiences.
Notably, Tavares is a rising Senior at Boston University studying Political Science, and was named in Forbes 30 under 30 Scholars in 2019.
“I was in a Zoom call, when I received a notification that we had reached $20,000 in 3 hours,” said Tavares. “I had to pause my video because I started crying. I couldn’t believe how the community was coming together.”
Pictured: Stephanie Tavares, rising Senior at Boston University studying Political Science and serving as the President for Umoja.
Tavares is not alone in this sentiment. Umoja has hosted a variety of events for students to come together and talk about university and community wide initiatives. “We want an action plan from BU,” says Tavares. “We want to see the BU community come together.” Within the past week, BU announced the launch of the BU Center for Antiracist Research, led by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
Pictured: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is a leading scholar in the history of racism.
After the fundraiser ended on June 8th, the proceeds were split in half. “We chose organizations that were most fitted to our goal. Together they represent a Minneapolis based organization and a fund for legal defense. This way, we’ve covered a variety of bases,” says Pour.
For Pour, as incoming student body President, this is just the beginning of what he hopes to be a new era for the Boston University student community. As next steps, BU Student Government will work with UMOJA and continue holding town halls for the community. Over the past week the town halls, through discussion around graduation requirements, have provoked the university to commit to actions like: course completion requirements focused on racial diversity, and requiring incoming students to take a pre-course focused on race and inclusion in addition to the existing pre-course focused on alcohol, drugs, and sexual assault.
In total the fundraiser exceeded the initial goal of $10,000, and also the secondary $100,000 goal, totaling in over $140,000.
“This is not a political issue. This is a human rights issue,” says Pour. “If we can all do our part to help the problem, we will solve the problem.”
The BU student body is now calling upon the University to match the donations.
Learn more about where the fundraiser’s proceeds were distributed:
- Black Visions Collective: “Believes in a future where all Black people have autonomy, safety is community-led, and we are in the right relationship within our ecosystems.”
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund: “While we are living in a moment unlike any we have seen before, LDF will continue to work to protect the most vulnerable in our society. During this time, the fight to defend our civil and human rights has never been more critical.”
Additional Resource:
- Campaign Zero: “Over 1,000 people are killed by police every year in America. We are calling on local, state, and federal lawmakers to take immediate action to adopt data-driven policy solutions to end this violence and hold police accountable.”