Giving back during times of unrest

Omar E. Zapata | THE RIDER

With the pandemic still at large, the UTRGV and Rio Grande Valley communities are finding ways to give back this Thanksgiving season. 

The Pa La Raza Fundraiser is raising money and collecting donations for Valley organizations. This fundraiser is organized by Kassandra Montoya and Ramiro Gonzalez, who will be helping Good Neighbor Settlement, Switch RGV, Border Angels, the RGV Mutual Aid Fund and Friendship of Woman, Inc. 

With each $5 donation or item donation, people will be entered into a raffle to win one of three mystery boxes filled with works from local shops, artists, vendors and musicians. 

Every $5 gives a person one chance at the raffle and, with unlimited entries, people can donate more and have a higher chance of winning. 

Pa La Raza will also be accepting new jackets, household items and personal hygiene items for donation and to be entered in the raffle. 

Montoya said the fundraiser was put together to help these organizations during these difficult times.

She said she recognized, as an artist herself, how a lot of artists in the Valley have large platforms and if they all worked together, they could do something big to help the community. 

Montoya said during her difficult times, she was blessed to have the community help her when she needed it, and that is why she has lots of love for the raza. 

“I just really want to give back,” she said. “This is something really important [to me] … giving back to people that aren’t as fortunate as we are and the raza needs as much help as possible.” 

Gonzalez said the mystery boxes will contain stickers, CDs, vouchers and more items from local businesses, creatives and individuals. 

He said as soon as they announced the fundraiser, local artists jumped at the opportunity to help. 

“I understand money at this time, during [the] pandemic, and, like, people getting laid off and stuff, it can be hard to just donate or want to do any sort of gesture,” Gonzalez said. “Even sharing the posts [on social media] or even by word of mouth, you know, can help somebody else.” 

For more information or questions on how to donate, visit @palaraza956 on Instagram. 

“If we can bring the community even closer than it already is, it can do crazy amount of changes,” Montoya said. 

Fatima Salinas, a political science junior, started a donation drive for Friendship of Women, Inc. to help survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse. 

  Friendship of Women, Inc. is an organization that seeks social change through advocacy, education, prevention and provides a safe home for victims and their families in Cameron County. 

The donation drive is asking for new jackets, gloves and scarves to household and personal hygiene items. 

Salinas said she started this drive as an applied project for her feminist philosophy class at UTRGV. 

She said she wanted to help people through these tough times. 

“Not only are people experiencing all the different types of abuse by the abuser, like physical, emotional and/or like psychological abuse, but they’re also going through the hardships of the pandemic, COVID-19,” Salinas said. “So, further isolation, that could lead to further abuse.” 

She said there are three different drop-off locations for items and, with a donation, people are entered into a giveaway of items from local businesses. 

The drop-off locations are:

–The Student Union on the Edinburg campus, located at 1201 W. University Drive,

–Tapioca Roots at 3300 W. Expressway 83, Suite 1240 in McAllen and 

–Retama Business Center at 2112 S. Shary Road in Mission. 

Those who donate will get a chance to receive a jewelry set by SweeetLove, a dozen chocolate covered strawberries by Sweet Treats, a charcuterie board by Cheese Boards RGV, or two one-hour tutoring sessions of the winner’s choice provided by The Academe. 

To enter the raffle, people must either take a picture of the donation and post it on their Instagram and tag @rgvdonationdrive or direct message the page saying they have donated. 

Salinas said if people are able to donate, it would help during these tough times, especially with winter nearing. 

Diego Salas, a finance junior and president of Entrepreneurial Action For Us (Enactus), told The Rider the organization is keeping its tradition of Cansgiving, a food drive that gives families full turkey dinners for Thanksgiving. 

Enactus is an international organization of over 72,000 students worldwide in over 37 countries with 1,730 chapters.

“What we’re really focused on, here at Enactus, is that we use entrepreneurial action for the betterment of the world,” Salas said. 

Cansgiving was first held in 2015 at UTRGV. He said the organization started by feeding 25 families and in 2019, they fed over 300 families in the Valley. 

Salas said this year, Enactus received a $6,000 grant from Emilia Hernandez from the McAllen Elks Lodge organization to feed more families in the area. He also said Enactus UTRGV has raised over $1,000 on a GoFundMe page for the food drive. 

Salas said with the grant and GoFundMe money, Enactus is hoping to feed over 300 families. 

To help with Cansgiving, click here to donate to the organization’s GoFundMe page.