Members of Students for Asian Indian Cultural Awareness will co-adopt a village in South India through the money they raised by fundraising at their annual Mela Carnival event Friday.

Manoj Chelvanambi, a sophomore and public relations chair of SAICA, said ticket sales and donations raised $720 for AID India. Through one of its programs, Eureka Child, SAICA will co-adopt a village. 

By adopting a village, the organization will be able to provide education for the children, all faculty salaries for a year as well as textbooks, Chelvanambi said.

 “We wanted to give something back to the country the majority of us belong to,” he said.

Each year the group chooses a different cause for which to fundraise, Chelvanambi said. 

“Education is something we take for granted, we come to a college, no big deal, so we wanted to bring this privilege to people who have never had the opportunity,” he said.

 Over 200 students and faculty members came to the Mela Carnival to enjoy henna tattoos, spicy Indian cuisine, Bollywood dancing and traditional South Asian games.

 Sophomore economics and political science major Jennifer Tomany said she attended the event because she wanted to support a good cause while also learning about a new culture.

“It is a really good cause and I think it is awesome that so many people came out and are willing to contribute,” Tomany said.

 President of SAICA Pratik Mehta said they hold this annual festival to reach out to people who are interested in knowing more about the South Asian and Indian cultures.

“We support diversity and we want everyone to come and learn something new about our culture, or someone else’s culture,” Mehta said.