Sacramento State’s Rotaract club started its first 24-hour teeter-totter fundraiser Tuesday in the Library Quad that will continue to noon Wednesday in hopes of raising awareness and collecting donations for the Mustard Seed School.

The Mustard Seed School provides homeless children between the ages of 3-15 with clothing, medical services, counseling as well as a safe and nurturing environment.

The goal was to make people aware of homeless children in the Sacramento area and raise enough money to allow the kids to attend school and receive the education they deserve, said Joseph Ross, senior business major and Rotaract club president.

“A lot of people stopped-by just because they are curious why we are doing this and that is part of our success plan, to make people aware,” Ross said. “The students seem very happy when they come because they were curious how a 22-foot-long teeter-totter feels.”

Geography professor Miles Roberts said he was just passing by on his way to teach his geography class and decided to donate and help out the children.

“Anything for the kids is good,” Roberts said.

Maika Lee, senior business major, said she came out to the teeter-totter to support the homeless children as well as a friend.

“I volunteer at Women’s Empowerment and a lot of the ladies there send their children to the Mustard Seed School so it is really nice to see everyone come and donate,” said Lee.

Anyone who wanted to ride the teeter-totter could do so. Even if people did not have money to donate and wanted to experience the thrill could do so, said Jenna Mahoney, sophomore psychology major and Rotaract club executive administrator.

There have been plenty of participants so far and the fundraiser has collected over $1,000 thus far, Ross said.

The goal of this is to match the 7,000 pounds of canned foods the university collected last semester at the U-Can food drive, in dollars, he said.

The build cost of the teeter-totter was estimated at $300 and took about two weeks to build, said Alex Davidson, senior social science major and Rotaract member.

The funds used to organize this event came from Associated Students Inc, Davidson said.

The Leonid meteor shower will hopefully attract more people throughout the night to the fundraiser, Mahoney said.

“We will definitely hold this event again next year, just a little earlier so that it isn’t as freezing at night,” Ross said.

Collection of donations will continue even after the event ends.

“No donation is too small,” Mahoney said.

To donate, please visit www.sacstate.orgsync.com/org/sacrotaract/home

Blazej Bruzda can be reached at [email protected].