Campus Crusade Club (Cru) held a dinner Friday night attended by approximately 40 students to benefit Dry Bones Denver, a local charity that reaches out to homeless youth.
Cru, a Christian-based organization which helps students develope relationships with other Christian students at the university.
The benefit dinner is an annual event, now in its second year, hosted by Cru and entitled “Love Is…” The event, which is held directly after Valentine’s Day, is meant to make students consider different forms of love.
Students were charged $7 per ticket for entry, the funds of which were donated to Dry Bones, and were served catered meals during a presentation by a Dry Bones Denver representative.
“We recognize in this season of love, there is a misconception about what love really is,” said Cru Program Manager Brent Phillip. He said the benefit dinner was held to help students reconsider the idea of love while focusing on a “great cause.”
The dinner was catered by members of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity (ZBT) and featured cooks from Johnson and Wales University, affiliates of the DU Cru chapter.
“This is a really great way to reach out and develop relationships with other groups on campus,” said Jon Forbes, president of Cru.
Forbes began the “Love Is…” event last year, after returning from abroad.
“I wanted to do something different,” said Forbes. “The goal is to capture something people are passionate about”
Last year, Cru hosted a dinner benefiting International Justice Mission, an international group that focuses on human trafficking.
“Near Valentines’ Day people tend to focus on themselves,” said Forbes. “This is a really outwardly focused love that we give to people who really need it.”
Forbes said he reached out to Dry Bones for Friday’s event and invited them to send a representative to speak to the crowd, which he said they were “more than happy to do.”
Forbes said he wanted the charity benefactor of this year’s event to be a local organization, as opposed to the internationally-focused International Justice Mission.
“I wanted to give people the chance to be involved in something that makes a difference right where they’re at,” said Forbes.
A representative from Dry Bones, Robby Goldman, showed a video about the work being done by Dry Bones and spoke about the homeless youth the organization works with.
He said Dry Bones focuses on helping the young people who did not get into homeless programs set up by other groups in Denver. He said the group also focuses on providing friendships and relationships to homeless youth.
“One thing we found our friends don’t know about is their self-worth,” said Goldman. “But everyone brings something unique and that is what makes this so beautiful.”
Goldman also said that while the event raiased money for Dry Bones, that was not the most important part of the dinner.
“Yes we do give them money, but what we really want to do is raise awareness,” he said.
Forbes said Cru plans to host another “Love Is…” next year as well.
