Israel’s Independence Day, Yom Ha’atzmaut, began Monday and ends Wednesday evening. In celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Cal Poly’s Mustangs United for Israel club hosted an event on Mott Lawn this afternoon. It was complete with a bounce house, SLODOCO doughnuts decorated with peace signs and the Jewish star, falafel with pita, tee-shirts, a booth set up by the Multicultural Center and a camel.
“We really wanted to bring people together to have fun, bring awareness to our club and celebrate,” club member and mathematics freshman Michal Golovanevsky said.
Golovanevsky is set to become the next club president in the fall. This event was the first one she planned for the club. Current president Aliza Herzberg also helped with the planning.
Mustangs United for Israel is a club that formed on campus to advocate for peace in the Middle East, according to Golovanevsky. But today’s event wasn’t about politics. It focused on being a fun celebration for everyone.
The event was a success, despite the club running out of food and doughnuts within the first half hour, because of the large amounts of people coming to see the event. Golovanevsky estimated that by noon, approximately 400 people had already come by. The club was also in the process of bringing more food to the event, as they planned to be there until 2 p.m.
The event was packed with people waiting their turn for the bounce house and crowding around the camel to take a picture.
“This is a really cool event. I didn’t know today was Israel’s Independence Day, so I learned something new and got to see a camel up close,” agricultural business senior Giuliana Battaglia said.