YOU’RE DOING IT AGAIN? KINDA, WE’LL EXPLAIN

AHOY. It’s time for the Edsbs Charity Bowl again. You have questions about our annual fundraiser, which this year is happening twice for reasons we need to explain? That’s great. We have answers.

Didn’t we just do this? Well, kinda, but there’s a reason for the season in both directions. The initial fundraiser this year was immediate, fast, and held in response to policy changes that would have directly impacted the work that New American Pathways does with refugees in the Clarkston, Georgia area. That was a stimulus; immediately opening the floodgates of the fundraiser was our response.

So why do it again? Well, a.) because we always do it around this time of year and traditions are great, and b.) because the need is always there. This is especially true in a year when the federal government tried to shut down the Refugee Program Completely, then backtracked, and now is kind of back up and running again, albeit slowly.

YEAH SO what is happening right now with that? After the executive order on immigration stopped the refugee program completely, the U.S. government has now quietly and slowly restarted the admissions process. That’s good news! The bad news is that things are still uncertain, and the funding gap for New American Pathways sits at about $200K for the year 2017.

What does this money go towards? So glad you asked. The funds from the EDSBS Charity Drive go towards programs like the following.

• Resettlement for new arrivals, or literally helping to buy the stuff welcoming people to the land of the free and home of the brave
• English at Home, a program to send volunteers directly into new arrivals’ homes to learn English at a pace and time better for their families
• Vocational Counseling that helps highly skilled refugees to find mentors, training and certification and higher education so they may work in fields like medicine, graphic design and more)
• The Young Women’s Leadership Program
• The Parents as Teachers program
• Civic Engagement, which works with new Americans to help them become registered to vote, educated about voting, and actively engaged in their democracy through meeting elected officials.

All that good stuff and more falls under the general umbrella of what you’ll be funding with a donation to New American Pathways.

What’s your fundraising goal? Modest, given that we already did one of these on the fly this year.

We’re asking because this often involves you doing something stupid to yourself in the name of charity. Yes, I know. I’ll think of something. There’s a Totoro with a block M on our right shoulder because of this fundraiser.

So still donating in the name of specific teams, yes? Yes. DONATE HERE. If you like, make the donation in the form of a score, preferably one that reflects your team delivering a humiliating defeat to a rival. Since we are Florida Gators, the starting donation for this week from us is a small but significant one from the 2016 season.

We could have also gone $23.14 to reflect how LSU had 23 first downs, Florida only had 14, and yet somehow still won this football game, but that seemed a bit obscure and cruel. Normally we love obscure and cruel, but this is an exercise in charity. We kept it simple and cruel in the name of kindness. (How’d you lose that game, LSU? HOW?)

The minimum is ten bucks. If that’s what you can do, great. If you can do more, well that’s great, too.

Keeping scores, yes? Yes, just quantify just how much money Michigan fans can discharge from the money cannon in a calendar year. At this point this fundraiser is a satellite camp, so if you can y’all get Harbaugh to chip in like a grand. He’s got the money, hit him up for it and engage a new level of humblebragging for the Michigan Man brand.

We’ll update as we go, as we usually do, especially since we need a winner for the year and thus a proper champion.

Will those scores carry over? Yes, we’ll add them all up and have some special subsidiary prize for winning this week’s contest. If that sounds weird? Just think of it as bowl season for your generosity, and it should explain itself.

Anything else? While we’re talking about Michigan, read up on former Michigan wide receiver Amara Darboh, who got his American citizenship in 2015 after coming to the United States as a refugee from Sierra Leone.

Other than that? No. Give, donate, and we’ll see what kind of stupidity you can talk us into. Maybe Block M Totoro needs a friend or two, you never know.

p.s. Yes he needs a touch-up

p.p.s. People who comment on the backgrounds of casual photos that don’t actually have any interesting details are the worst people in the universe, please do not at me.

p.p.p.s. Donate Donate Donate DONATE DONATE