Event Management students lift spirits with virtual cocktail night to raise money for Glasgow based homelessness charity
A team of students have put a fresh twist on ‘virtual nights in’ with an evening of cocktail making - raising over £200 for The Simon Community in Glasgow.
Students from Glasgow Caledonian’s School of Business and Society have teamed up as part of a module to host a virtual event, bringing people together from the comfort of their own home to make cocktails.
Media and Communication students Alexiane Nana, Eilidh McEwan and Evgeni Dilov alongside International Fashion Branding students Catherine Craig and Kirsty Pettigrew were instructed to host an event to raise funds for a charity of their choice.
Given the current circumstances and ongoing restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, the team were challenged to take their plans online and host an event virtually that would still engage attendees and create the feeling of being at an in-person event.
Programme Manager of the team’s mock event management company, called Phase Events, Evgeni explained what the team aimed to achieve and how they decided on a partner charity.
Evgeni said; “We came up with the idea to host a quiz night with a few rounds of music-themed questions, with easy cocktail recipes introduced by us serving as interludes in between rounds.
Titled "A Night of Music and Cocktails", our event included a raffle where a few lucky attendees were picked at random to win some great prizes, including a customized cocktail glass, cocktail equipment, and ingredients to recreate our recipes.”
Evegni added; “We were also asked to choose a charity to support with a portion of our proceeds. Our team picked Simon Community Scotland – an organization supporting homeless people all around Scotland who were awarded "Scottish Charity of the Year 2020".
The charity allowed us to show a video about the work they day during the event and explained how our donation will help fund new ‘safe women-only spaces’ where their team can provide bespoke social and health services."
Part of the funds raised by the team’s event has also been put back into the university to fund developments that students can benefit from in the future.
Evegni explained; “Our group managed to gain a profit of just over £200 (with a generous £100 donation from William Grant & Sons), with 30% of it going towards the University's Leisure Development Fund and 70% contributing to Simon Community Scotland”.
Project Manager Catherine highlighted how the team were determined for their event to make people feel more positive about lockdown and lift spirits by giving attendees the opportunity to socialise virtually.
She said; "The aim of our event was to entertain people in the comfort of their own homes during this awful time.
It allowed us to remind people that lockdown can still be fun!
We wanted people to get socialising and have fun just like the good old days – whilst also raising funds for a great cause."
You can find all of Phase Event’s cocktail recipes from the event on their YouTube channel.
By Rebecca Meechan.
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