PAGE 12 HOMECOMING 2014
+
UNITED ACROSS BORDERS
ALANA FLINN
Local KU charity accepting donations all week
@alana flinn
"These kids don't have anything, so for them to be as thoughtful as to say 'We're the host, and you're coming to our country, so we want to give you something.' It's nothing big, but it's the idea behind it," Heeren said.
Getting out of the car at a park in Bangladesh, Madeline Heeren was greeted by children giving her handpicked flowers. The third-year law student from Lenexa was taken aback by the gesture, as many of these underprivileged children barely had enough clothes on to keep them warm.
Aqmar Rahman, a third-year law student from Lawrence, remembers this as his favorite memory from traveling to Bangladesh.
"These kids are probably 5 to 10 years old, and they literally have nothing." Rahman said. "The fact that they are so kind and thoughtful to be able to do something like that, that's just one small example of the 10 or 20 times something like that happened."
Heeren and Rahman, CEO and president of UAB, respectively, founded the charity after they traveled to Bangladesh while writing a paper on the textile and apparel industry.
Those Bengali children are recipients of donations from United Across Borders, a KU charity that provides clothing to underprivileged children in Bangladesh, as well as to local Kansas City shelters.
"I noticed there were millions of articles of clothing in the factory, and yet these people on the streets when you walk
out don't have clothes." Heeren said. "So it really stuck with me, and it just bothered me that there was this huge discrepancy, and we really wanted to figure out a way to help these people."
One of the main purposes of the charity is to collect KU-specific apparel to donate because the founders of the organization share such a passion for the school they attend.
"I'm a huge Jayhawk fan," Rahman said. "It's unnatural how big of a Jayhawk fan I am, so one of my goals is to line the streets of Bangladesh and other parts of the world with Jayhawk colors, so it can be crimson and blue everywhere in the world."
UAB will be collecting donations during Homecoming week at the Adams Alumni Center, 1266 Oread Ave. Doj-school GENERATIONS CONNECT. CREATE. UNITE.
JOIN US! September 25-27
Make plans to attend this special event during Homecoming Week 2014. J-School Generations is your chance to connect with former Jayhawk Journalists who have professional experience and celebrate with fellow Jayhawks during this three-day event
www.journalism.ku.edu
facerebook.com/KUJournailism * twwitter.com/KUJournailism #jschoolgenerations * youtu.be.com/KUJournailism
ity.