Commuting Students Association (CSA) hosted its 17th annual Thanks-Give-Away event on Thursday, Nov. 21. Admission for the event was five dollars or five food cans, and all proceeds were donated to the nonprofit, Part of the Solution (POTS). This year’s theme was Cirque du CSA and featured Thanksgiving foods, performances from Fordham’s dance and a cappella groups and a variety of prizes.

Kaidya Adames, GSB ’20, president of CSA, said the purpose of this fundraiser is to give back to the Bronx community and to bring the Fordham community together in celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Adames said the theme was inspired by the contemporary circus Cirque du Soleil and wanted to focus the event on the entertainment.
Thanks-Give-Away included a hula hoop acrobat, a stilt walker, a bubble girl and other performances from the Hot Notes, Flava, B-Sides, Satin Dolls, Ramblers, Candela and the Elite Dance Squad.

CSA served traditional Thanksgiving foods such as gravy, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, turkey and cornbread. They presented a custom t-shirt and gave away raffle prizes that were donated by different departments at Fordham. The prizes included Cirque du Soleil tickets, a year-long parking pass for auction, Rockettes tickets, Six Flags tickets, Fordham merchandise, a lottery tree, dinners with deans and more.

“The event was very successful. We raised $2,285.90 and 180 cans for the local food bank, Part of the Solution (POTS),” said Adames. “Also, we had great attendance from students, faculty and guests such as family members of students.”

Guy Savino, GSB ’22, executive program coordinator, was involved with every aspect of the planning process, from choosing centerpieces to bringing in entertainment. He said the event was wonderful and went smoothly, with over 400 attendees throughout the night.

This year’s event included more entertainment than last year’s in terms of outside performing groups. Savino said they opted for more performance groups because there was not a suitable interactive activity that fit with the Cirque du Soleil theme.

CSA made more of an effort to integrate the Bronx and surrounding community by opening up the event to the public, such as family members of students, said Adames. They also invited a dance group from Washington Heights to perform.

The group raised about $1,000 more than last year and included a parking pass live auction at the event in an effort to increase fundraising, according to Adames.

“In the future, we would like to raise even more money than we did this year and in years past,” she said. “This year CSA created a Thanks-Give-Away committee in order to focus on the fundraising aspect of Thanks-Give-Away and to increase our donations for POTS. I am hopeful that in the future the amount raised will grow with the formation of this committee.”

Savino said he would like to meet the workers from POTS and invite them to Thanks-Give-Away.
“I believe that the organization we are holding this event for should know how we are raising the money and be able to participate in such a great cause for the local community,” he said.

Savino said the event would not have been possible without the support and hard work from the Executive Board, the various Fordham departments and staff he contacted throughout the process and CSA’s advisor, Stephen Esposito.