The hallway was filled with interested students throwing ping pong balls into cups. It wasn’t a party – these students were helping to raise money for a spinal cord charity.
A group of second year special events planning students were in charge of the event in Forwell Hall. Courtney Ayres said that the event was a way to raise money as well as awareness.
“We had a bunch of different charities come to one of our classes last semester and pitch their event and how they wanted it done. It just seemed interesting – we hadn’t heard of it before and we wanted to bring the awareness to Fanshawe.”
The event had a couple of fundraisers going on, including a silent auction and a skittles guessing game. The highlight was the cup pong challenge, in which students could compete for the fastest time with gloves on.
Ayres said that the unique cup pong is meant to simulate the lowered sensation in the hands and arms that can come with a spinal cord injury.
Kevin Kaisar, Fanshawe’s VP Internal Affairs stopped by to check out the raffle and win some prizes, including a Via Rail pass and a free travel voucher for anywhere in the world for two people, courtesy of Westjet Canada.
The event raised money for Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, a group dedicated to increasing awareness and advocating for better quality of life for those who have endured a spinal cord injury.