FF and Unity collect money for partying and call it charity?

FF and Unity collect money for partying and call it charity? 

This is one of the biases we hear sometimes, and in this text we will explain what United Aid is, how we work, and also the traditions around the Board of Buddyweek. 

For multiple years, we have collaborated with the Board of Buddyweek, where the bottle deposits from the Buddyweek have been donated to charity. It has varied slightly whether all the bottle deposits have been donated, or just half of it, but the most important part is that charity has been a part of it. Until this year. The Board of Buddyweek decided that this year, they needed more money to organise this wonderful Buddyweek, and they could not afford to donate the bottle deposits. This is understandable, but their reaction to us promoting our own boxes for bottles and cans (that are available all year round, not just during the Buddy Week), has made us realise that many people might not know what United Aid is. 

United Aid is a charity at NMBU, run by the social associations Feminin & Fornem and Broderskapet Unity. We cooperate with UNICEF, and we collect slightly less than 100 000 kr every year, and all of it goes to UNICEF. We do it through the collection of bottles and cans, lotteries, runs for support and our own party night at Samfunnet. Did you know that the Culture X-plotion that is arranged every year is arranged by us and that all the money spent goes to charity? Even the dinner where we change board is sponsored by our associations. 

This is what UNICEF says about our collaboration: 

“Since 2017, United Aid has supported UNICEF Norway in our work for the children in the world. Since the beginning of the collaboration, United Aid has donated, on average, 94 500 kr a year. Every year, the students in Ås contribute to UNICEF in Côte d’Ivoire, so that they can build more schools in the country so that children can receive their education in good surroundings. The schools are made from recycled plastic that have been turned into building blocks”. 

We want to inform students at NMBU that United Aid is run by volunteers, that all the money is donated to UNICEF and that we are proud of the work we do throughout the year. We want to encourage all of you to use the big orange boxes for bottles and cans at Pentagon and Eplehagen. Have a good party! 

PS! Babylon Pizza section Ås, Vestby og Drøbak will on October 14th donate their profits for “TV-aksjonen”, and we want to urge all students to buy food this day! Secure your hangover-food already before Oktoberfest begins! 

Best regards, the board of United Aid 
Organisation number: 999 522 106