Tonight, the ground floor lounge of Elizabeth Hall (a dormitory at Benedictine College) was transformed into the Benedictine CLU venue, hosting a fundraiser to raise money to send students on the CLU summer vacation. Tables with white table cloths filled the space. The sound of laughter and live music filled the air, as did the smell of the delicious homemade pasta dinner being served. The sight was so spectacular that most students passing by exclaimed, “Wow! What’s happening here?”

Looking back at the event (which ended only an hour ago!) I am filled with the same surprise and wonder as these curious students. I think about the sacrifices my friends joyfully made for the event: making posters, shopping for ingredients, giving up precious hours of studying. I think about the ways in which we all contributed our natural gifts: David and Cathryn performing music, Denis and Daniel cooking the amazing pasta, Andrew taking the beautiful photos below, so many of my friends enthusiastically serving their classmates food. I think about the fact that at the end of the night, we all were happy, so happy that we were dancing as we cleaned up— and it really had nothing to do with the amount of money that we made! I think about all of these things, and I too, must seriously ask “What is happening here?”