Although the long winter months seem to be dragging on, students involved with the Ohio University chapter of The Empower Campaign (Empower OU) have been working feverishly to plan the first annual Mr. Empower Pageant to help rebuild a school halfway around the world.
The Empower Campaign is an Athens-based nonprofit organization that raises money to pay for school buildings and educational materials for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Uganda, Africa. This year, Empower has focused on rebuilding Bigodi School and Nursery, which was destroyed by a storm in November 2008.
The construction on Bigodi School has progressed steadily and the foundation was laid a couple of months ago. All of the materials for Bigodi, except the imported tin roofs, have been purchased from local businesses and the construction team consists of local workers. The progress at Bigodi has been achieved, in large part, thanks to everyone who participated in the 5K Run to Empower in October.
Thousands of dollars are still needed to complete Bigodi School, but it is an achievable goal. In order to reach that goal, Empower OU would like to invite all students, faculty and Athens residents to attend the Mr. Empower Pageant.
The pageant will be held at 7:30 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 12 in Baker Theater. Students representing 10 different organizations, will compete for the title of Mr. Empower 2010 and receive $100 for his student organization. Seating begins at 7:15 p.m. and tickets will be available at the event for $3, with all proceeds going to The Empower Campaign.
I hope to see you there; together we can make this event a huge success and directly impact the lives of Ugandan children.
Jenn Habel is a senior and member of ImPRessions.
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