College Students to Host Banquet Fundraiser Event for Rwanda at Hyatt Regency in Bellevue Kirkland, WA

On November 7th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in Bellevue, a group of college students from a small liberal arts school in Kirkland will host Restoring Rwanda, an Itafari Foundation pay-it-forward fundraiser event. The students were given 10 weeks to plan and execute the event, and, in partnership with the Itafari Foundation, are well on their way to pulling it off.

The college students chose to partner with the Itafari Foundation because of its enthusiastic concern for and skill in meeting identified needs of the people of Rwanda. Itafari is a not-for-profit founded by Victoria Trabosh, of Portland, Oregon, to help the people of Rwanda rebuild their country by supporting widows and orphans of the genocide through education, entrepreneurial financing and training, child sponsorship, goat-rearing programs, and school construction.

As a class project, the students decided to put together Restoring Rwanda, an elegant, banquet-style fundraiser to help raise money for the foundation’s efforts. Currently the students have booked the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bellevue and planned an evening meal, various speakers (including Mrs. Trabosh), and silent auction for 150 donors. The doors open at 5:30pm and the event will begin at 6pm on November 7th, 2008. Next, the students will focus on ticket sales and securing corporate sponsorships. They have 4 weeks left.

For additional information regarding Restoring Rwanda, please contact Stephanie Tell at stephanie.tell06@northwestu.edu or Andrew Jenkins at andrew.jenkins07@northwestu.edu. For additional information regarding the Itafari Foundation, please visit www.itafari.com. To secure tickets for Restoring Rwanda, please visit www.iamincorp.com/itafari.