This semester's Cause Dinner, held last Tuesday in Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Halls, raised funds to benefit the Palestinian Association for Children's Encouragement of Sport (PACES).
The Cause Dinner is hosted twice annually by Dining Services in conjunction with the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, which selects a charity initiative from a pool of undergraduate applicants. Students visiting either of the two dining halls are then given the option to donate a portion of their meal's cost to the cause.
While the funds raised from this semester's Cause Dinner have not yet been tallied, Director of Dining and Business Services Patricia Klos said that the average amount of money raised each semester is between $1,200 and $1,500.
This dinner's beneficiary, PACES, structures after-school athletic programs, trains coaches and provides sports equipment for children in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. According to Senator Isabella Kahhale, the program was chosen due to its wide reach: the program hopes to help more than 7,000 boys and girls.
"PACES instills in them the core values of peace and teamwork, and gives the kids everything from fields to coaches," Kahhale, a freshman, said. "We felt our dollar-for-dollar donations from the Cause Dinner would make a great impact on these children's lives."
PACES was nominated this year by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), according to TCU Senator Janna Karatas. The Cause Dinner recipient was chosen from among 12 student groups that applied, each of which proposed a particular charity.
The debate on the final decision is open to members of every committee in TCU, which uses a sort of bracket system to narrow down the applicants, Kahhale said.
"We consider questions such as where else the organizations can get money, whether or not they are receiving other funds, how well-known they are and what kind of impact we would make," Kahhale said. "We encourage groups to always apply in both the fall and the spring."
Karatas, a sophomore, said that PACES was also considered for its influence on a global scale, since Tufts DREAM, last November's Cause Dinner beneficiary, was more local in scope.
"Since the event is put on twice a year, we usually try to pick one of the Cause Dinners to benefit a local or community undergraduate cause," Karatas said. "Anyone from Senate is welcome to help pick the program."
According to Karatas, there are no specific limitations on the organizations which can be submitted by students, which leads to a wide range of charities being nominated from year to year.
"We definitely see a wide variety of applicants," she said. "In the past, they have been as diverse as sports teams, service organizations and several different medical groups. Selecting the group is always a very contentious discussion because so many causes deserve it."
According to Karatas, there is now more of an incentive for students to participate in the Cause Dinner: Students can give their signature as they enter the dining hall to support the charity, but still keep their meal.
In the past students would be required to donate their entire meal in order to help out, Klos said.
"Cause Dinners originated in the 1960s and 1970s as a way to raise awareness about hunger, and to provide funds to organizations who feed those who have insufficient means," Klos told the Daily in an email. "In order to participate in the Cause Dinner, the student signed their name, then left the dining hall without eating. When the Premium Plan and Block Plans were introduced, students no longer left the dining center after 'signing away a meal.'"
Kahhale added that Dining Service's collaboration with the TCU Senate to increase participation and make a genuine difference in their donations is important.
"We work together to organize the entire event, and solicit both applicants and signatures," she said. "It's amazing that Dining Services offers us this opportunity."
