Thanks to Residential Life, students had the opportunity to give back to the community from the confines of their room with the annual United Way of Greater New Haven raffle.

Last week Residential Life raffled off elite parking spot opportunities and men’s ice hockey tickets, according to Jennifer Crane, the director of residential life.

The raffle is through a partnership with United Way. The organization was created to provide better lives for all, with a focus on education, income and health, according to its website.

The office of Residential Life partnered with the non-profit organization almost two decades ago, according to Crane. The purpose of the partnership is to provide students with the opportunity to give back to the Greater New Haven area.

Sophomore Juliana McBroom, a resident assistant in Ledges, said the raffles get students involved with the organization without asking for much.

“Incorporating the United Way charity through Residential Life is a great way to let students know about the organization,” McBroom said. “The raffle is awesome because it makes [students] excited to donate because they have the possibility of getting something out of it as well.”

The proceeds for this year’s Residential Life raffle goes into the general United Way fund, according to Crane. However, she said there are several different subcategories on the organization’s website for people to choose for donations.

Junior Vanessa Costa, a public relations major, purchased a raffle ticket for the chance to win tickets for the Quinnipiac men’s hockey game against Yale.

“I participated in the raffle because it was a good cause,” Costa said. “And one of the prizes was two tickets to the Yale game.”

But the organization is much bigger than most students realize, according to Crane.

“They have fundraising opportunities where they work to raise money for multiple organizations,” Crane said.

Crane said the organization hosts several different events throughout the year. Some of their more popular events, according to Crane, are: a backpack program, a community round-up and a food truck.

The backpack program provides a backpack of nutritional foods for children, the community round up encourages families to sign their children up for kindergarten and the food truck event provides meals for children during the summer, according to Crane.

All these different events the organization sponsors are funded by donations from the community and, in some cases, Quinnipiac students and faculty.

During the second week of November, Crane said there will be an additional opportunity for Quinnipiac to fundraise for United Way. There will be an online auction where students and faculty can bid on items.

The online auction will have items such as the president’s parking spot for a week, free laundry for a semester and Yankee seats from the old Yankee Stadium, according to Crane.

Each year, Residential Life sets a goal for the United Way fundraising efforts. The goal this year is $65,000, according to Crane, and so far Quinnipiac has raised 46 percent of that goal.

“It’s a phenomenal organization,” Costa said. “Quinnipiac is doing an amazing thing by partnering with them to give back to the Greater New Haven community. Hopefully more students will get involved and we’ll reach the fundraising goal.”