The Campus PRIDE club held a two-day  fundraiser April 29th in the Davies Center and May 2nd in Centennial to raise money for their organization.

Erin McMichael (she/they), a second-year ecology and environmental biology student and Vice President of Campus PRIDE said that PRIDE is a student organization that is run by queer students, for queer students.

She said their mission is to act as a focal point for the LGBTQ+ community on campus through education and events.

They said the club is meant to help students feel welcome and a part of an inclusive community.

McMichael said that Campus PRIDE has been around since 2012. Attendance varies, but about 20 students attend each meeting.

The club currently meets once a week from 7-8 p.m. on Mondays in Davies, but this may change next semester. The meetings include a mixture of community building activities and  informational meetings.

McMichael said some examples of activities the club has done include game and craft nights as well as presentations on queer content creators.

She said that for craft nights, executive members bring in different crafts and host stations. Past examples include stress balling making, collage making, and coloring. A past presentation was on queer history.

In the past, counseling services and CASA were brought in to speak at meetings.

McMichael said they think people enjoy coming to PRIDE because it offers a safe space for queer people to come and meet other queer people while also learning about their community.

She said she personally enjoys PRIDE because of the community building aspect of it.

McMichael said, “I have met some of my best friends through this organization and it has helped me grow my leadership skills.”

According to Emily Luebke (she/they), a third-year special and elementary education student, this fundraiser consisted of making and selling keychains representative of different flags and identities. 

She said that it took two weeks to make all of the keychains, and each executive board member made the keychains for a different flag.

Keychains were one for $2 or three for $5, and the proceeds went to multiple things throughout the organization, including supplies, as well as extra money for members to participate in activities.

McMichael said, “Within the past two days we’ve already sold 152 key chains.”

Last semester, the club sold bracelets representing different flags and identities for $6 each.

Luebke said, “Last semester, we did a fundraiser where we were selling bracelets, and we decided we wanted to switch things up and make key chains.”

Luebke said they felt that this was a successful fundraiser, and they made more off this fundraiser than the bracelet fundraiser.

They said that the club aims to do a fundraiser every semester, and more so toward the end of the year, when people are more interested and have more time. Fundraising is new for this organization as they usually depend on student fees.

If interested in joining, students can email [email protected].

Price can be reached at [email protected].