by Adrian Dobre

Engineering Student Society "A" continued the tradition of contribuiting to local comunity. Our students raised $25,513.02; money donated equaly to Alzheimer Society and the Blue Door Program (operated through Thrive and it is designated to support individuals, primarly between the ages of 14-29 who have experiences in the sex trade, including sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, and are looking for support).

Friday night (February 5th), during the 16th Charity Ball organized by Student Society A, our students have come together to make a positive difference in our local community and certainly in the lives of those who depend on the services of these vitally important organizations. "It was extremely hard to pick just two beneficiaries; there are so many groups that we would have loved to support. We started by writing down groups that hold a special meaning to us as a society. One of the society members informed us about the Blue Door Program and its financial gap. They secured 3 years of funding recently, but in 2022 they went almost a year relying purely on people's generosity and support. As a Society, we understood that supporting a group like this could literally save someone's life. We also looked at this as an opportunity to introduce the Blue Door Program to people who had likely never heard of them in hopes of further support in the future! Many of us have been around those with dementia; we understand how that disease affects not only the person individually but also their family and friends. With thousands of people being affected by dementia in Newfoundland and Labrador, our support will help families in need", said Michael Mallay, VP Finance Society A.

Despite working hard in the academic terms, working, and volunteering with other organizations, amongst many other things the engineering students put their full effort towards the success of this special event and the betterment of the community. Our student society members are very passionate about their work and successful events like this show the determination within the student body.

The overwhelming attendance of students at the Charity Ball showed how determined our engineering students are to help the community. "You look around the faculty and see programs and initiatives constantly being started by students for the betterment of our community. As a society, we try to lead by example; we want to show that a small group of students can organize and create awareness for very worthy causes. Many of the engineering students are constantly volunteering at a variety of organizations and the initiatives can be seen throughout our entire community. Just recently, the Canadian Engineering Leadership Conference 2024 that took place at MUN in January presented a donation of $8,400 to the Janeway's Children Foundation", said Mallay.

Special thank you to the co-chairs Katherine Williams, Sophia White, and Michael Mallay for organizing the event.

We are very proud of our students!