The AIDS Awareness Committee of the Student Welfare Commission will host RollAIDS, its annual roller-skating fundraiser, in Ackerman Grand Ballroom tonight.
For $8, students can rent skates and will be eligible to win raffle prizes such as posters and T-shirts.
Proceeds will go to One Heart Source, an organization that maintains an orphanage in Tanzania for children who are affected by HIV or AIDS.
Students are encouraged to show up early and dress in accordance with the traditional disco theme.
The event will feature roller-skater performers The Scooby Brothers. Clips of the documentary “Who Are The Scooby Brothers?” will be shown during the event.
Liz Chou, head of the Aids Awareness Committee, said while RollAIDS is not a new event, the student body is taking a larger role this year. The GooP, a student band, will be performing live. Dance group NSU Modern will be featured as well.
“We wanted to celebrate being a Bruin and raise money for a good cause,” Chou said.
Planning for the event began at the start of winter quarter. SWC sought endorsements from corporations on campus and in Westwood.
Chou said fundraising was difficult, especially as RollAIDS came on the heels of the much bigger Dance Marathon.
She added that the committee received only $1,500 from the Undergraduate Students Association Council, 90 percent of which was used to rent the skates.
But despite the short amount of time they had to fundraise, Chou said SWC eventually received donations from American Airlines, Disney and UCLA’s Office of Residential Life.
“It was a positive response from the community,” she said.
Apart from bringing attention to HIV/AIDS and uniting students, Chou said, one of the goals for the event is to assist grassroots organization One Heart Source.
“Our (financial) goal is $10,000. It’s a relatively small amount, but it will make a big impact on something like One Heart Source that is just starting.”
Chou said she is optimistic about the future of both RollAIDS and One Heart Source.
“We hope that it continues next year,” she said. “We are looking for people to come, be inspired and feel passionate about the cause.”