Rotaract club on campus shows how community service is a way of life
Jason Darling l The Cougar's Byte

Kean University urges its students to take part in community service, and a good amount of campus organizations have incorporated volunteering into their campus involvement. But there is one particular club in which philanthropy consumes its founders, Ashley Fuentes and Sarah McKnight, resulting in the two individuals creating a club where community service is on the agenda day in and day out. In the spring semester of 2015, the Kean University Rotaract Club (KURC) was established.

Fuentes, president of KURC and secondary education major with a concentration of English, and McKnight, vice president of KURC and a senior communication public relations major, both attended community college and were considerably involved in the Rotaract Club there.

“Upon transferring [to Kean University], we decided to go through whatever motions it took to pioneer our own at the university level [because] the club offers community service opportunities, networking skills, and lasting friendships,” Fuentes, stated. The executive board members also include Shakara Best as treasurer, Kwame Enu as public relations representative, and Gilson Maza as secretary.

The club was founded internationally on January 9, 2015, which paved the way to Kean University having a Rotaract club on campus. “The club is an international club, and in order to be recognized through Rotary International (our parent organization), we had to go through extensive steps to [make] the club [official],” Fuentes stated.

“Rotaract is the younger ‘sibling’ to Rotary International,” explained Fuentes, “Instead of working on bigger scale projects such as eradicating Polio, which is what Rotary International strives to complete, Rotaract Clubs focus on more small-scale issues.”

This year, KURC has adopted Stop Hunger Now as its organization to dedicate its efforts to. Stop Hunger Now is on a mission to end hunger around the world by packaging and shipping meals, vitamins, and medical supplies to developing countries.

In order to take full advantage of their surroundings, KURC will be fundraising within the Kean community as well as the surrounding community “to raise money to [host] a Stop Hunger Now event,” Fuentes commented. McKnight is excited for KURC’s Stop Hunger Event. “It’s a really cool event. We package dehydrated rice/soy meals fortified with essential vitamins and nutrients and each meal only costs $0.29!  Just 40 members can package close to 11,000 meals in two hours, so our goal is to package 22,000 meals in two hours and have as many volunteers as we can get.” As of now, there is no set date for the KURC’s Stop Hunger Now event, but KURC is working hard to raise the funds needed to host the event.

KURC will also be donating its time to the Hillside Food Bank, a related cause to Stop Hunger Now, and tutoring at the Boys and Girls Club of Union. As the focus of all Rotaract clubs is volunteering, KURC is asking each member to complete a total of at least 20 hours of community service by the end of the school year.

“Rotaract really helped me come out of my shell and it also afforded me some amazing travel and networking opportunities worldwide,” McKnight stated.

Members from all corners of the world are given opportunities throughout the year to gather in one place. “We’re invited to conferences hosted by Rotarians, such as [the] Rotary District Conference, which was held in May in Atlantic City,” McKnight explained, “and in late July [was] the Rotary Youth Leadership Award conference held in Washington, D.C. that has attendees from Rotaracters worldwide!” Through conferences such as the ones stated above, individuals are able to meet and make connections with individuals with the same passion: community service.

“The Rotary International community is a great network to be a part of.  We meet businessmen and women who are more than willing to help us find jobs or internships during school and after we graduate,” McKnight stated. While the personal gains of KURC membership are helpful, they should not be the primary reason individuals join. As the motto of Rotary International promotes, Service Above Self. “We want to have everyone who wants to volunteer to join us,” Fuentes stated, “Within our club, we encourage our members to find service projects that interest them…[you have to] want to make a difference.”

Interested in joining KURC? Email kurotaract@kean.edu or check out their socials media platforms: facebook.com/keanuniversityrotaract, instagram.com/keanrotaract, and twitter.com/keanrotaract.

The club meets on a weekly basis, with its meetings taking place on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the Center for Academic Success (CAS) room 234.

“Our mission is to help the world, one small step at a time. I hope that Kean students can all come together to help our local community and the world,” Fuentes commented.