AIC seeks to raise $10K for A Leg to Stand On charity

Undergraduate | Mar 04, 2015 | Gabelli School of Business

Sophomore shooters, at the Feb. 6 men’s basketball game, raised $250 for A Leg to Stand On as part of an Alternative Investment Club fundraiser.

When Jillian Stackman, a member of the Gabelli School of Business Alternative Investment Club, heard a presentation at a club meeting from a charity called Hedge Funds Care last year, she knew it was time to act.

“I was just so inspired by that, that I wanted [charitable activities] to be a more integral part of the club, as did [Professor Kevin] Mirabile,” Stackman said.

The club, formed two years ago with Mirabile as its adviser, raised $1,000 for Hedge Funds Care last year, but Stackman and others sought to ramp up their efforts in 2015.

Enter A Leg to Stand On, a charity founded by C. Mead Welles of Octagon Asset Management, which seeks to provide children in developing countries with prosthetic limbs and treatment for other limb disabilities. The AIC is trying to pull together at least $10,000 in donations during a semester-long fundraiser, Stackman said.

And even though the AIC is in the business school, Stackman doesn’t want to limit the effort to just Gabelli School students.

“I want it to be all of Fordham to get involved,” she said.

So the AIC has put together a Ram Rivalry, pitting subsegments of the Fordham community against the others to see which can raise the most money. Alumni and friends of Fordham have their own categories.

“As a whole, I’m hoping that the undergraduate class can raise $10,000,” Stackman said. “We are hoping that the alumni team can either match that or exceed it.”

Events already held include raffles and a basketball-shooting contest at a Fordham men’s basketball game. More will follow.

Stackman said the AIC has raised nearly $1,700 so far.

ALTSO was formed after Welles, on a trip to Indonesia saw a young boy with a deformed leg begging on the street. Realizing he had the resources to help, he founded the charity, which now helps countless children with prosthetics and treatment.

“When are in these kinds of accidents or are born with some kind of disability, a lot of the times they can’t get to school because they have to walk there,” said Stackman, the chair of charitable outreach for AIC. “So then these children aren’t able to get an education, they are subject to below poverty level income and really dangerous working conditions.”

The continuing effort fits well into Fordham University’s and the Gabelli School of Business’ stressing of the need to remember and help those who require help.

“Obviously, being part of a Jesuit school, it is really important to give back and to have that sense of commitment to your community,” Stackman said.

The fundraising effort will continue until May 5. To give, click here.