Qdoba Fiesta raises organic awareness for urban garden

By Katherine Peach
Western Herald

(Aaron Ulrich / Western Herald) Homecoming fiesta: 2008 Homecoming candidates introduce themselves at the Qdoba Homecoming Kick-Off on Monday night in the Student Rec Center. From left: Selby Smith, James Connor, Stephanie Meyer, Heidi Egloff, Joelle Fundaro, Sammy Bokor, Derek Galloway and Adam Priskorn.

Homecoming this year brings timeless traditions, philanthropy and tacos.

The Qdoba Homecoming Fiesta, which was scheduled to be hosted at the Goldsworth Valley Pond, was moved to the indoor tennis courts at the Student Recreation Center because of the rain.

A taco bar was provided by Qdoba Mexican Grill and was free to all students. The event was a mixer with music by WIDR DJs.

“Ultimately, Homecoming is about students and how students display pride for their school,” said Dierdre Grice, the Student Activities and Leadership Programs Homecoming coordinator. “It’s open to everyone, not just teams.”

The teams are comprised of RSOs, campus organizations and Western Michigan University students.
Teams have been raising donations in the past weeks for the event.

All donations go to the Growing Matters Garden, an urban garden project at 323 N Burdick St. in Kalamazoo.
The garden teaches students about basic organic growing practices and educates them about local food around the community.

“The program is a lot of child, family services about educating and sustainability,” Grice said.
See Homecoming Page 5

“The garden is based on grants and the biggest need is monetary support to keep it running.”
Fair Food Matters is the organization that runs the garden and other projects to create awareness about “better choices about how we feed ourselves” in the community. Anyone can and is encouraged by Fair Food Matters to donate at the event.

The highest contributing team receives 20 Spirit points and a prize package at the fiesta.
Spirit points are awarded to teams for participating in different activities and philanthropy during Homecoming Week, Grice said.

At the end of the week the team with the most Spirit points wins the Spirit Cup, a homecoming tradition.

Wining RSOs or student organizations will also receive money to fund their organization.

Student teams will receive prizes worth the monetary equivalent.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Sep 30 2008. Filed under Campus, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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