Euchre Tournament benefits family

Feb. 10, 2005
By Heather Venema & Katie Kerr
News Editor & Staff Writer

While people all over the United States had their sights set last week on the football game, another super bowl was brewing on campus.  On Feb. 3, Phi Eta Sigma held a super bowl of euchre tournament to benefit a family adopted from the World Relief agency.

The tournament drew a crowd of thirty teams, and raised over $330 dollars via an entrance fee of $5 per person.  All proceeds will go to the family.

The Ntawemera family is from Rwanda, and petitioned the United Nations to be able to flee the country because they believed their lives were in danger.  The family is Catholic and speaks Swahili.  The four children are eleven, six, four and two.

Phi Eta Sigma worked with an agency called World Relief, which is a grassroots agency that works with refugee families in the Quad Cities.

“It was pretty crazy because they didn’t know when the family was going to arrive,” Phi Eta Sigma president Gil Cervelli said.  “We just waited for a call.”  The government specifies a list of all the items that need to be in place before the family arrives, including everything from pencils to pots and pans.

“When I say we are adopting this family I mean it,” Cervelli said.  “They have nothing except the things we provide for them.  This isn't a one-semester project.  The family is becoming part of our family, and we will be in touch for a long time.”

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