A group discussion class is working with an on-campus organization to give back to the Fort Worth community after doing a service project at a local safe house.

StriveTCU will put on a benefit banquet Tuesday Nov. 29  to help send underprivileged boys from Fort Worth to summer camp.

The banquet is business formal and will be from 6:30-8 p.m. in the third floor ballroom of the Brown Lupton University Union on the campus of TCU.

StriveTCU wants low income families to know  that sending their children to college is not out of the question.

Carrie Kapellusch, an adjunct communications professor at TCU, is a CEO of the banquet and the co-advisor of StriveTCU.

“The primary focus is to get people who don’t think about going to higher education to think about it,” said Kapellusch.  “Get it on their radar.”

After visiting H.O.P.E. Farms Inc. on a service project, Kapellusch’s group discussion class decided to put on the banquet to benefit H.O.P.E Farms in conjunction with StriveTCU.

H.O.P.E  Farms provides at risk boys a chance to learn about Jesus and develop important life skills. Their goal is to keep young boys out of delinquent activities and provide positive male role models in their lives.

Students in professor Kapellusch’s class, along with other communication classes, have been working on the banquet all semester. Devon Harris, a junior sports broadcasting major, is one of three student CEOs in charge of the project.

“We decided to turn it into a benefit which is where we’re now fundraising all the money to enable these boys to go to camp,” said Harris.

The banquet will feature musical performances from the H.O.P.E. FARM boys, including their choir and some piano soloists. The choir boys have performed the national anthem at TCU basketball games.

Bill Glass, a former All Pro NFL player and founder of Bill Glass Ministries, will be the keynote speaker.

“We wanted to make it a well-known keynote speaker to make people want to come to the benefit,” said Harris. “It was left up to the students to see who they could pull using our TCU contacts and everyone that we know.”

The goal of the evening is to raise 15,000 dollars to send 50 H.O.P.E. boys to summer camp. The camp is hosted by TCU and will consist of various TCU sport and academic camps. The boys are choose which activities they participate in.

“They’ll get a chance to see what it is like to be on a college campus and get a feel or a taste for what it could be like if they were there one day,” said Harris. “The thing that’s great is that it helps the single mothers who are in the H.O.P.E. Farms program to give their boys something to do during the summertime when they aren’t in school.”

The banquet is limited to 150 spots. To reserve a spot, email [email protected] by Tuesday, November 22 with your name, company name and any dietary restrictions.

Tickets are $100 each, and donations are accepted.

“We have invitations out, but we don’t know who will show,” said Kapellusch. “We would love to branch out and make it more inclusive in the spring.”