Faith Fund encourages religious discussion on campus

From Penn Muslim Students Association’s Family Fair to Penn Newman’s Stations of the Cross, the Penn Faith Fund has been making ambitious religious events possible since 2010.

This year, the Penn Faith Fund has used the $10,000 grant from the Vice Provost for University Life through the chaplain’s office to subsidize almost 30 religious-based events and organizations.

Students can receive Faith Fund money by submitting a common funding application and making a five-minute presentation at a Faith Fund committee meeting, which is held every other week.

Faith Fund prioritizes interfaith events that encourage religious dialogue.

“[We] typically look for events that are either collaborative — sometimes interfaith or getting two groups together that are the same religion — or educational for the campus community,” Associate Chaplain Steven Kocher said.

Most applications receive funding, though not always in full, he added.

Funding isn’t limited to events. The Faith Fund sponsors food for Penn Jews and Muslims — a new initiative to foster discussion between Penn Jews and Muslims because the two believe they have a lot in common. Money helps provide costumes for the performing arts group Penn Thillana, which acts out different scenes from Hindu culture in their performances.

Students on the Faith Fund committee noticed that the meetings themselves are sources for major interfaith collaboration, since one member from each Penn Religious, Interfaith and Spirituality Matters constituent group sits on the committee.

“[It] is the most interfaith event that happens on campus routinely,” Faith Fund co-chair and College senior Umar Sheikh said.

Faith Fund is also supporting many Spring Fling alternatives.

Thursday night, MSA along with Latter-Day Saint’s Student Association and Penn Baha’i hosted an alcohol alternative, where the groups made homemade ice cream and root beer.

“Our numerous events would literally not be possible without the Faith Fund,” MSA marketing chair and Engineering sophomore Hanna Elmongy said.

MSA also received over $1,000 in funding for their annual Family Fair, a carnival for West Philadelphia families — held this past weekend on Rodin Field.

For the second consecutive year, Hillel’s “Sharsheret Pink Shabbat” was made possible through Faith Fund money. The event, started by a 2012 graduate who lost her mother to cancer, helps support Jewish women and families facing breast cancer.

Money from the fund allowed Pink Shabbat organizers to bake about 140 challahs, which they sold on Locust Walk to raise over $1,000 to finance the Shabbat.

“I think we’ve seen in the years that we’ve had the Faith Fund that religious climate feels more welcoming and that groups have been increasingly working together, and that really fits with our original goals of having a fund like this,” Kocher said.

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