Nick poses with his dad at inFORa CAUSE
We’ve said it a lot, and we won’t apologize- Fourth Estate Leadership Summit attendees are our dream team here at Invisible Children. With #zeroLRA underway, they’ve really taken the opportunity to create innovative fundraising initiatives and our office is beyond impressed. 22 -year-old California State University student Nick Ventura is no exception.
Nick put social justice as his lead priority after a trip to the Philippines in 2008. As he drove through the city of Manila, he noticed walls blocking the slums that are surrounding the city. Nick says, “This is socially unjust, I thought. It takes a lot of combined effort and activism from motivated people to solve extreme crises like this, and like the LRA.”
He first heard about the LRA conflict when the Rough Cut was shown in his high school. Years later, he attended our 2013 Fourth Estate Leadership Summit, and he never looked back. Nick adds, “The 2013 Fourth Estate Leadership Summit infused so much belief and hope in the world and in myself that I went home and launched inFORa CAUSE.”
inFORa CAUSE is a socially conscious mall cart in which Nick sells global awareness products, including our Ugandan Reed Bracelets, and his proceeds go to #zeroLRA.
Invisible Children Reed Bracelets
The cart includes an assortment of products from beanies and journals, to even coffee for a cause! Currently, there are products from 10 different organizations, including Krochet Kids, The Giving Keys, Falling Whistles, and Keep-a-Breast. (What an impressive group to be included in…we’re honored.)
Nick’s complete inFORa CAUSE stand
Nick explains, “My favorite part about the cart is educating people on the LRA conflict and opening their minds up to the other problems around the world. I just want people to realize that their every choice, conscious or not, is the story of their life. Everyone is going to buy products. Why not choose to buy products that do not just support greed, but instead help fulfill a need?”
It sounds ideal, but Nick assures us it’s not always easy. When we asked about the hard parts, nick replied ,“Conveying the purpose of each product to the typical mall shopper that has a short attention span. inFORa CAUSE is an educational platform.”
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