Oak Park High School’s Project Education For All club hosted their fifth project on Dec. 4: “Art in the Park.” In last year’s events, Project EFA was able to raise enough money to fund three schools in India for a whole year. This year, “Art in the Park” marked the club’s first in-person fundraiser and was at Oak Canyon Park with the aim to raise funds and awareness for children who do not have access to education. 

At the fundraiser, people could participate in a plethora of activities such as raised salt painting, origami animals and tie-dye. Everyone was able to take home the pieces of art they made. 

“We wanted to bring the community together, and we thought, why not art?” junior and co-president Sadhika Adicherla said. 

Junior and vice-president Shyla Yadav explained how the various stations were thought of by the club members from Project EFA. With 16 high-school volunteers, this fundraiser captured the attention of 25 participants and families. 

The resulting $400 in proceeds went to Indic-Ai. Indic-Ai focuses on solving challenges that prevent financial and educational mainstreaming by creating intelligent technological solutions focusing on their accessibility, education, inclusion and employment. They use “technology and artificial intelligence for mainstreaming the differently abled,” according to their website. 

The proceeds funded various projects the organization works on. Some of these include creating courses easily accessible to disabled individuals and creating technological interventions using artificial intelligence to help these individuals.  

“I thought it was a huge success, just by the fact that it happened,” junior co-president Ishya Cherukupalli said. 

According to Adicherla, the event had a “domino effect.” She explained that as more people participated in the activities set up, others nearby were more encouraged to participate. 

“To tell you the truth, it was stressful at first,” Cherukupalli said. “But in the end, it was completely worth it.”