LUCHA: Building Community One Event at a Time

By: Andrew Nowel, Sports Layout Editor

Just over a week ago, Hispanic Heritage Month began, and it marks a time for celebrating all of the many cultures that make up the Latinos United Celebrating Hispanic Advocacy (LUCHA) club at Canisius. Running from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month has a unique way of capturing the beauty and history of Hispanic culture.

Hispanic Heritage Month doesn’t start at the beginning of a calendar month, but in the middle of September, which gives the month a unique feature. The reason for this is that Sept. 15 is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua all gained independence on this day while Mexico and Chile declared independence only a few days later. The celebration of Hispanic Heritage was extended from a week to a month by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

At Canisius, LUCHA works to incorporate all different cultures. The club puts on multiple events throughout the year, but especially in the early part of the academic year not only for Hispanic Heritage month, but for Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This Mexican holiday is a two-day celebration at the beginning of November and is centered around remembering relatives that have passed away. Sophomore Angel Suarez-Cruz, the social media coordinator for LUCHA, said the club always has great turnouts at events during the early part of the school year due to these holidays. “We are focused on promoting Hispanic culture, and we want people to feel a sense of community,” said Suarez-Cruz on Wednesday.

Suarez-Cruz first joined the club last year after beginning at Canisius as a freshman. The community aspect of LUCHA, as well as one of his Spanish classes, helped Suarez-Cruz to find a way of connecting him to home. “If you take a Spanish class at Canisius, you have to go to events where people speak Spanish or where there are different things about Hispanic culture,” said Suarez-Cruz. “LUCHA is really good to get those marked off for your class, and it’s also fun to attend because there are a lot of cool themes that we do as well as food that we bring in.” 

There’s always a chance to try something new as the club tries to bring in all kinds of food to embrace as many cultures as they can. “People love food and through that, along with music, we’re able to teach people about different cultures with trivia or dance which allows people to have a good time,” said Suarez-Cruz. The food has such a great variety that everyone can find something that they will enjoy, and it may give them the opportunity to try something new. “I’ve gotten to try things that I’ve never had before and that’s the great thing about the club,” said Suarez-Cruz. “No place is the same and each place, though they speak the same or similar languages, has different styles of cooking and different foods.”

LUCHA continues to bring great events to Canisius as the club strives to bring cultures together. As they work to care for the whole person, the goal for every Canisius organization, LUCHA continues to make strides toward making everyone feel welcome, bringing together many people and finding a common ground to unite the future leaders of the world.