Drive-by donations

University clubs, organizations net $18,000 for event

By Irene Thirlwall

More than 50 Fresno State clubs and organizations sold a record $18,000 worth of special editions of the Fresno Bee as part of the 17th annual Kids Day.

Students raised $3,000 more than last year’s total, which was about $15,000. The Phi Mu Fraternity raised the most money, totaling $1,400. The organization that sold the most papers on campus will receive a pizza party courtesy of John’s New England Pizza.

Students went out as early as 5:30 a.m. to sell papers, and stayed out until after 3 p.m.

Trish Studt, a staff member for Students for Community Service, helped coordinate the Kids Day push on campus. She said the campus Kids Day effort has never had so many organizations participate.

“It is a campus-wide effort,” Studt said. “Even University High School sold some papers.”

Fresno State students have been involved with Kids Day since 1988, when the fundraiser first started.

“ We are historically the biggest site, we sell the most every year,” Studt said.

Proceeds from Kids Day editions go to the hospital for various supplies and costs, including diapers and pacifiers, as well as helicopter transports and free care.

Katy Robinson, a junior, is a member of Fresno State’s nursing program. Robinson said that a lot of nursing students work at Children’s Hospital Central California.

“ It has more of a meaning for us because we get to see the effects,” Robinson said.

Senior Nirali Patel, a biology major, coordinates the event with Studt. Patel is also involved in two of the clubs that participate in the event and was out selling the papers with her classmates.

“ Everyone is having fun...people are generous,” Patel said.

The athletic department had members from several different teams scattered throughout the campus to sell papers.

Members of the equestrian team near the Save Mart Center flagged down drivers on Shaw avenue.

“ We are out here to sell newspapers and help the kids raise money for the hospital,” said Jennifer Campbell, a freshman majoring in Animal Science.

Campbell was out at 7:15 a.m. with teammates Tasha Lodwig and Brianna Mastel.

Lodwig and Mastel said they told Campbell she must have been a newspaper seller in a past life, because she had so much enthusiasm selling the papers.

At the corner of Shaw and Cedar, two members of the women’s volleyball team received a $50 donation from a woman who said she wanted to donate to the hospital.

Kids Day began as a fundraising project between Children’s Hospital , The Fresno Bee and KFSN Channel 30.

The Bee publishes and provides a $1 special edition of the paper for volunteers to sell to the community.

Each newspaper features a section dedicated to the hospital and filled with articles about patients, projects and procedures at the Children’s Hospital.