If you were sitting inside the Seventh Street Café the night of April 27, it’s likely that you heard loud crashes coming from outside.

From 5:30-8:30 p.m., the Bucknell Brigade hosted its first Dent-A-Wreck fundraiser event behind the Café. Students were invited to release their pre-finals frustrations by taking a sledgehammer to an old car. Students paid $3 per swing or $5 for three swings, and all proceeds benefited the Nueva Vida Health Clinic in Nicaragua. Many students came out to the event, which had only one rule: no breaking windows.

The Bucknell Brigade is an organization that organizes service trips to Nicaragua in January and March—one over winter break and one over spring break. In Nicaragua, students deliver medicine, offer translation support and other services, and provide physical labor for a number of projects.

Bucknell Brigade member Avery Cox ’19 said that the trip taught her “a lot of things about people around the world” and “As a biology and pre-med major, it has inspired me to possibly pursue Doctors Without Borders.”

The University donates a large number of supplies to the Nueva Vida Health Clinic on a year-round basis. In addition to Dent-A-Wreck, the Brigade hosts many fundraisers to obtain the funds necessary to supply enough medicine and other items for the clinic.

The inspiration for Dent-A-Wreck came from other schools that  have completed the fundraiser. Bucknell Brigade member Alex Lord ’18 called local auto body shops and asked them if they’d be willing to donate a damaged or unused car until he received a “yes.”

Many students loved the opportunity to release some of their tension by pounding on a car.

“I’ve never felt more adrenaline!” Nolan O’Shea ’19 said, after making a hole in the car door. 

When asked whether the club would organize this event again, Lord said “Most definitely, this was a lot of fun to set up and do!”