Syracuse University football fans did more than just boo the Louisville Cardinals mascot on Friday — they painted it.

The SU chapter of Nourish International, a nonprofit student group that fights global poverty, created banners for the last home football game with the opposing team’s logo and mascot. Fans donated money to throw paint and destroy the mascot in order to show their Orange pride before the game.

Nourish raised $230 during its first “venture,” or event, called Paint Out Poverty, and is planning to host another venture on Saturday for SU’s Homecoming game against Florida State.

“Last week was our trial run, and it went really well. Now we learned a couple tricks on how to make it better for this week,” said Haley Kulakowski, president of Nourish.

Kulakowski, a junior international relations and policy studies double major, said that due to SU policy, the group had to scout out locations off campus to graffiti the Cardinal. Members of the group decided to split up into two different locations with high foot traffic: Walnut Park and Euclid Avenue. The Nourish members in Walnut Park jumped around to different tailgates and received generous amounts of money from alumni and parents, Kulakowski added.

When other chapters of Nourish in colleges across the country have their own Paint Out Poverty ventures, they usually consist of members and donors painting over the word “poverty.” But the SU group decided to make it more fun and pump up the fans by painting over mascots, said Eliza Kinnealey, a senior international relations major and venture director of Nourish.

The money raised will go toward the global development project of Nourish, which is focused on improving the global health network of Uganda. Kinnealey said the money will fund different objectives within the project, like educating women, building pit latrines and helping women start their own businesses.

“We know that whatever we make through these ventures, like Paint Out Poverty, fund these projects,” Kinnealey said. “We buy materials, like shovels, and make these projects successful with the help of the Syracuse community.”

Last semester with the help of Nourish, 14 SU students traveled to northern Uganda for six weeks to implement their projects. This summer, the group hopes to continue making more sustainable projects for the people of Uganda, specifically the people of the Oyam District, and to send more students.

Joyce LaLonde, the Nourish international projects director, said the organization raised more than $7,000 last year and that the SU chapter was one of the top performing groups in the country. It was also the first year that Nourish had a chapter on SU’s campus.

“This year, of course we want to raise more. The more money we raise, the better the projects will be, the more impact we will be able to have,” said LaLonde, a sophomore broadcast and digital journalism and international relations double major. “These ventures really matter in how effective our projects will be this summer.”

Members in Nourish come from all walks of life, LaLonde said, with a common goal to help those in need. Without its members, Nourish wouldn’t be able to improve the lives of Ugandans each year.

“The model of Nourish is great,” LaLonde said. “They do it right. You’re giving back. You’re doing something important. You’re making sustainable change.”

Published on October 8, 2014 at 12:01 am

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