After a successful first semester raising about $2,300 that will go to several charities focused around water, WeGo Global will spend second semester focusing on supporting refugees.

They initially decided that refugees were an important issue in August before the issue of Syrian refugees became so prominent.

“There are millions of displaced people in the world, and they deserve help,” senior WeGo Global executive board member Kendra Whelan said. “Seeing pictures of emaciated, displaced children escaping war zones is heart wrenching, and I think it’s very important topic for not only us to help, but for the school to talk about.”

The topic of refugees, especially Syrian refugees, has become a  popular and controversial issue. However WeGo Global’s executive board discussed their plans to help refugees again because of the controversy  at a meeting in December and decided to continue with their work for refugees.

“I said you’re going to make people angry, just so you know,” WeGo Global adviser Margaret Haas said. “And they’re like ‘that’s okay because we want to be informed and we think we should inform other people.’”

WeGo Global is still finalizing what fundraisers they will have. They plan to have videos about once a month in order to educate the school about refugees. The club is also looking at replacing their chicken challenge with a backpack fundraiser where $35 will give a backpack to a refugee child.

“We’re going to challenge classes to raise money for these backpacks to try to send kids to school with the supplies and the tools they need to be successful,” Haas said.

The club will also be partnering with World Relief based out of Glen Ellyn and is still picking out other potential organizations to partner with. Additionally, the club hopes to have guest speakers come in order to help bring it closer to home.