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Selling Sweets for the Sugar Bowl

by SuzyQ
(Virginia)

It was back in the early 1990s when West Virginia University had an undefeated football season and was heading to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Morgantown is a staunch university town, and my kids were in the band at their high school. The band had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans to play at one of the pre-Sugar Bowl events, but they had to raise a significant amount of money for travel arrangements, since only a small amount was available from the school district. So parents, teachers, the school board AND the WVU administrators put their heads together to come up with a number of ideas for raising money. Selling candy was one way -- and it had to be done quickly!

One of the parents had experience in selling candy bars as a fundraiser for a church, so she took a leadership role in getting the project off the ground. We all worked together to get the word out ... through the local newspaper, the public TV station, radio stations, the cable TV system. We chose candy bars because we were going to the SUGAR BOWL, so that was a natural tie-in. Since Morgantown is a relatively small town, everyone got on board quickly. The town was already psyched up about having an undefeated football season and going to the Sugar Bowl, so this was just another activity that added to the excitement. Moreover, since these were high school kids getting an opportunity to experience a big college bowl game, it was even better.

I don't remember how many candy bars we sold, but it was a significant amount. Probably several thousand. We made enough money to help send those kids on a bus to New Orleans for a trip they'll remember for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, WVU lost the game, but it didn't matter. Everyone had a fantastic time.

Life is sweet, isn't it???