by Cold weather often keeps students indoors during Minnesota winters, but at the University of Minnesota, one student organization found a way to turn a simple cup of hot chocolate into an act of community support.
The University of Minnesota Red Cross Club recently hosted a hot chocolate sale on campus with a mission that went beyond helping students warm up. For every cup sold, the club pledged to donate three cups of hot chocolate to a local homeless shelter.
“We decided that for every one hot chocolate sold here today, we’ll donate three to a homeless shelter,” Club President Brooke Meyer said during the event.
Though the Red Cross Club is primarily known for organizing blood drives and recruiting donors, volunteer coordinator Sofiya Ismagilova said the group wanted to expand its impact.
“If our cross is red, it doesn’t mean just blood,” Ismagilova said. “It means community and helping people.”
The initiative comes at a time when homelessness remains a pressing issue in Hennepin County. In 2025 alone, the county recorded more than 2,500 people living in homeless shelters.
Meyer said the group sold 62 cups of hot chocolate during the event, resulting in a donation of 186 cups to local shelters.
“I would say the most rewarding part is just knowing that some homeless people in the community are going to be able to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate,” Meyer said. “I don’t know if that’s really a typical experience for them.”
While donating hot chocolate may seem like a small gesture in the face of a larger systemic issue, club members say the effort still matters. Co-Secretary Bryn Karasch emphasized that even small acts can have meaningful effects.
“Just knowing that even if we do something small like this, it’s going to make someone’s day, many people’s day when we bring this to the homeless shelter,” Karasch said.
For the Red Cross Club, the event was about more than fundraising. It was about reinforcing a broader mission of service one cup at a time.
