I came across a video on Bustle earlier this year, even before we chose the beneficiary of our 13th annual Charity Ball, that discussed the topic of homeless women. How do homeless women cope with periods? Women’s hygiene products are expensive. These women have limited access to pads and tampons so they have to come up with creative ways of keeping themselves clean while on their periods. When it was announced that we would be honoring the Raleigh-Wake Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness I recalled this video and remembered that the homeless face a lot of problems that we often don’t realize. People don’t plan on living on the street and everyone has their own story. The money we raise will go towards building a multi-services center that will immensely benefit the homeless population in the Raleigh-Wake Area. It will allow people to get immediate access to the resources they need. For example, hygiene kits provided by the multi-services center would help homeless women feel clean during this monthly struggle all females experience.
There are no words to describe how much I love what we call “Charity Ball Season”: the months of October, November, and early December that are spent fundraising, securing donations, and raising awareness for Charity Ball. For Charity Ball, I do a lot of art-related projects which allow me to do something I am very passionate about. I feel that the work we do during Charity Ball season is similar to creating artwork. The following paragraphs describe my modus operandi for painting, and how I apply similar tactics towards achieving our Charity Ball goals.
Having an Idea of What I Want the Painting to Look Like
I brainstorm and think about what I want my painting to look like. I then transfer my idea from my brain to a piece of scrap paper. This is similar to the planning step of Charity Ball season. This is when we strategize events, start making phone calls, reach out to businesses, and brainstorm ideas for publicity.
Laying the Foundations of My Idea on Canvas
This is the step when I begin adding background colors but what is in front of me does not completely resemble what I want the product to look like yet. This is when we are halfway through Charity Ball season. Everything begins to come together and we are getting closer to achieving our goal. We are raising awareness as graphics and flash campaigns are posted all over social media and banners and fliers are hung up around the school.
Painting and Adding Finishing Touches
The painting is almost completed and details are being added to finalize the product. A few mistakes might have been made here and there but they are fixed and in the end probably make the painting even better. We are now full on Charity Ball-ing. Even though we may encounter some obstacles, we work hard and get past them.
Just like painting, everything about working for Charity Ball is creative, innovative, challenging, fun, and the result is beautiful. However, a big difference between artwork and Charity Ball is that art is generally created by one person: the artist. Charity Ball is a collaborative work of art, and what makes Charity Ball so awe-inspiring is the fact that it is a community-wide effort.
Roshni Arun
Executive Council