In the name of continuing to give back, one community service club has taken an unconventional approach to raise both money and public awareness to help combat Marin County teen homelessness.

Instead of hosting a bake sale to raise money for their cause, the Interact Club planned and hosted its own event, Interact Inspires, on April 18 to benefit Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity (AHO), an organization dedicated to eradicating teen homelessness in Marin.

Those who attended listened to three motivational speakers, including keynote speaker Paul Kingsman, a 1988 Olympic medalist and motivational speaker, and the AHO founding director, Zara Babitzke.

AHO Youth Program Adviser Kaila McDonald, UC Berkeley student and former homeless youth, also spoke.

According to Interact President Caroline Blatt, the club relied on donated resources to provide a location as well as speakers for their event.

“Everything was donated—the space, the speakers, everything,” Blatt said.

Interact Vice President Siena Traverso said people’s generous donations inspired the club to work hard on the event.

“We wanted to attract enough people to make it worthwhile for our speakers since they were donating their time,” Traverso said. “Also, we wanted it to be worthwhile for the cause we were raising the money for.”

According to Traverso, this event was very different from past fundraisers the club has held.

“Bake sales and volunteering are kind of all we’ve done in the past three years,” she said. “So it was kind of time for us to step it up. We’ve been talking about having our own event for a long time, and we just felt like it was time.”

Traverso said the event far surpassed expectations.

“We thought we might get five people, including our parents, but we ended up with a full room, and everyone seemed to be having fun and enjoying themselves,” she said. “So it was successful in that way, and the amount of money we raised also made it a success.”

Previous community service projects of the Interact Club include various bake sales and fundraising for the Ghana Scholarship Fund, which provides some children in Ghana with food, clothing, and an education for a year.