By BY: KATE LUCE
Staff Writer
kmluce@iu.edu
The Student Government Association (SGA) has been recently prepping for their first Veterans Benefit Dinner, which will is slated for Friday, Nov. 11.
The funds from tickets sales and donations will directly go to a scholarship benefiting student veterans and dependents of veterans.
“The scholarship is an emergency fund for student veterans and dependents of veterans. [Dependents are those who have had their parents GI Bill benefits transferred to them, typically a child or spouse of a veteran]. Currently, the benefits are taking too long to be processed by the government, which is resulting in some students having concerns about being evicted from their apartments,” said Kevin Schascheck, SGA president.
Currently, the SGA is expecting 70-90 people to attend, based on ticket sales. The night will include spaghetti, garlic bread, cookies and other refreshments.
This is technically not the first benefit dinner the SGA has hosted in the past few years, but this is the first scholarship benefit dinner. In the past years, benefit dinners for the Special Olympics and Syrian refugees were held.
“Originally, I had planned to do a benefit dinner this semester to benefit veterans. I was unsure of which organization we would choose at first, but after hearing that I wanted to use the event to support veterans, alumni and the SVO (Student Veteran Organization) approached me and asked to use the money for a campus scholarship to benefit veterans and dependents,” Schascheck said.
SGA members have been preparing for this event since the start of the semester. With careful planning, the event is coming together as it nears.
“The planning for this requires lots of attention to detail and precise math. It is important to have a system of accountability when doing cash fundraisers, as well as careful records of who has purchased tickets. Cost control is equally important, and Sodexo has been very cooperative with us in order to pull this event off,” Schascheck said.
There is hope that the Student Veterans Benefit Dinner will be an annual event in the future. Scholarships are important for many students to attend college.
“This event is important to campus because it shows that we have an engaged student body, faculty, and staff who are willing and eager to support our student veterans. It is important to give back to those who have given so much,” Schasheck said.
