A Secret Crush

by Liz
(Ann Arbor, Michigan)

As my dorm president, I was in charge of fundraising for our annual gift to the residence hall. My hall government wanted to raise enough money to replace some of the smaller appliances in the common room kitchen. It was mid-January, and we were aiming to complete preparations for the fundraiser by the beginning of February and actually start collecting money on February 1st.

We decided that we were going to change the "Santa-gram" idea for Valentine's Day. We sold the old-fashioned looking glass bottles of Crush soda (with a personalized message) for $1.00 each. We had bought them by the 6-pack for less than $2.00 each, so we ended up making a good profit. We set up tables in the popular lunch spots on campus and delivered the Crush-grams to students in their dorms. We ended up raising a little over $200 which we used to replace the common room's microwave, microwave oven, and saved the rest for the next year's hall government. They are working their way up to a fridge.

I think the most important tip I can offer is to really think about your target group; Crush sodas work well for college students, but probably wouldn't work at a business or an elementary school. Be creative!