The patrons at the Attic Bar & Grill ate their cheese fries, drank their beers and danced to the pounding music, and they did it all to raise money for children in Rwanda who have been affected by AIDS.
The Creighton chapter of the national AIDS awareness group Face AIDS held a fundraiser Saturday at the Attic Bar & Grill at 33rd & Harney called “Face AIDS in the Attic.”
The group sold pins made by Rwandans. These pins are the main source of fundraising for the Face AIDS organization.
Donations for T-shirts were also raised for Face AIDS, whose national chapter was started in 2005 by college students to make AIDS relief and prevention a more prevalent topic in this generation, according to the group’s Web site, faceaids.org.
“The great thing about what we’re selling is that with the $5 pins we get a one-to-one private donation that will match each sale,” said Face AIDS President Leslie Murray. “We’re also getting 100 percent of the profits from the drinks, food and cover, too.”
All profits raised from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. went straight to Face AIDS to help people affected by AIDS.
“The money goes to a lot of essential things for these kids,” Murray said.
“It goes to help pay for school books, medicine, food, clothes and a lot of other things that these people need.”
“It’s not just for individuals either. A lot of the things go to help the whole community, such as building textile factories or schools.”
Murray said the organization made about $450 in pin sales and T-shirt donations and as of Tuesday had received $300 in profits, although it expects more from the night. All in all, Face AIDS hopes to have raised around $1,500 from the one-night fund raiser.
Richard Bruno, the owner of the Attic Bar & Grill, said he is always glad to help with fundraisers like this.
“I really want to try and provide a good place for things like Face AIDS,” he said.
Patrons of the bar were also pleased to see the group raising money.
“Well if I’m going to spend 20 bucks on beer, I think it might as well go to a good cause,” said bar-goer Andrew Horrigan.
“I think more bars should do things like this to help raise awareness of organizations and things that might not get attention otherwise.”
Creighton students also were there to support their university’s local chapter of Face AIDS.
“I think it’s always a good idea to do things like this that make people who only give AIDS a passing thought to have to be reminded that it is a serious problem in the world right now,” said Arts & Sciences junior Alex Kugler.
“You won’t be able to find a lot of people who say AIDS is great, but you will find a lot who don’t know much about it or how to help it, so this is always good.”