The Hebron Asian Student Association will host its first charity fundraiser of the year today at 3 p.m. at TeaLatterBar, part of the club’s mission to organize fundraising efforts to increase cultural activities available at Hebron.

“[This year we’ve focused] on growing the club and raising funds for the club in order to have more fun and inclusive events for everyone in the school to enjoy,” HASA vice president Caitlyn Nguyen said.

HASA officers say they look to create unity in the student body through events centered around Asian customs, holidays and media, and are also making efforts to raise awareness for the catastrophic events happening in Asian countries over the next semester. At the organization’s fundraiser on Dec. 9, boba tea will be sold to raise money for three potential charities in Asia:  the Stop South Asian Pacific Islanders Hate charity, which aims to help victims of Asian hate crimes,  the Indonesian earthquake relief charity and the Itaewon stampede charity, which supports those who were injured in the Oct. 29 crowd crush that took place in Itaewon, Seoul.

“By donating money to charities, we are also highlighting the culture and spreading awareness of what’s going on in Asian countries,” HASA sponsor Sunila Gaikwad said.

In November, the club held a movie night fundraiser and sold ramen to the student body at lunches to raise money for the club’s holiday celebrations. It is the second time the ramen fundraiser was organized, the last being in 2019 where funds were given to Engenderhealth to give women access to feminine hygiene products.

“We’re trying to show students how the holidays are celebrated traditionally,” Gaikwad said. “There’s a lot of misinformation about Asian culture, especially after COVID. If [people] don’t understand something, [they] are more likely to dislike it. If we can [educate] other people, [they will be] less likely to have any misconceptions or prejudice.”

The club is also planning on using proceeds from fundraisers to give back to the school community.

“In the spring semester, we’re going to have a lunar new year event gathering where we will have a bunch of food, games and we can all dress up and listen to music for the upcoming lunar new year festival,” Nguyen said. “We will [also be] doing a ramen and tea festival during lunch where we will bring different types of packaged ramen and have people buy and enjoy [it] during lunch.”

The club’s addition of new events centered around Asian holidays helped achieve its main goal and set up fundraisers to help people in need.

“We have a large Asian American population at Hebron,” HASA president Joshua Park said. “We’re trying to [commemorate] Asian culture [and get people involved], but in doing so, we’re able to raise money for charities in Asia.”