About 50 students gathered in the luau-themed Louis Room Thursday night for an evening of music, dance and Hawaiian Punch pong at the annual Suitcase Party.
The event started at Northwestern in 1994 to support philanthropy organizations in the Chicago area, executive co-chairman Brian Hathaway said.
Students paid $5 for admission and could buy raffle tickets for a dollar. This year the 10-member executive board chose to support the Christopher House, a family resource center in Chicago.
“What sets Christopher House apart from other groups is that they’re passionate about what they do and they have a clear plan for helping the families,” Hathaway said.
The Suitcase Party committee gives continual support to the philanthropy throughout the year and donates money from fundraisers, Hathaway said. Students go weekly to the Christopher House to volunteer at the Gear Up program as tutors for middle and high school kids.
“We’re different from other groups at Northwestern because we have people go twice a week to volunteer and we fundraise,” Hathaway said.
With the leis, grass skirts and mini-umbrellas in the drinks, the luau theme had something for everyone, Hathaway said.
“We wanted to keep the focus on the charity and not get too bogged down by creating some outlandish theme,” he said. “We wanted to keep it pretty simple and provide a nice night for everyone.”
Significant Others, African Drum and Dance Ensemble, guitarist Keegan Good, a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago and French Horn Rebellion performed at the event. Magician Sean Masterson also went table-to-table performing magic tricks.
Mark Kusch, who just finished his sophomore year at Purdue University, DJed in between the performances. Kusch usually charges $300 for four hours but he volunteered to work for free because he has friends on the Suitcase committee.
Students watched the performances as they snacked on pasta, pizza and cookies. They could also decorate miniature surfboards, make sand art, play beach volleyball and challenge each other to games of punch pong.
In between performances, committee members drew raffle tickets. Prizes included gift cards to Evanston restaurants, movie tickets and a free Kaplan course. The grand prize was a $200 voucher for a plane ticket.
“A suitcase party traditionally is a party where everyone comes with a packed suitcase and there’s a raffle for a plane ticket,” said Emily Stecher, Weinberg junior and the public relations co-chairwoman.
