"A little rain isn't going to stop us"
Kids Day earns $23,000 for valley hospital
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
At the corner of First and Barstow since 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday to stake out a spot, Corey Plamondon sells one of his first papers of the morning at 4:30 a.m. Newspaper sales continued until 3 p.m. the same day.
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By Tanya R. Ulloa
The Collegian
With raincoats, umbrellas and newspapers in their hands, volunteers were not stopped by rain during Kids Day.
During the charity event where volunteers sell Fresno Bee newspapers for $1 each, Kids Day sold 23,000 newspapers this year, Trish Studt, manager of Kids Day said. Proceeds go to Valley Children’s Hospital.
“Last year a total of 22,000 newspapers were sold with Fresno State being the largest selling site in the last 3 years,” Studt said. “It is really one community service that brings the entire campus together for one cause.”
Many of the groups participating sent volunteers to arrive before dawn to reserve their location of choice before any other organization beat them to it.
“We’ve been out here since 2 a.m. and we’re not leaving till we reach our goal of 2,000 newspapers,” said Issac Lopez, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
The charity event is also a competition between groups to sell the most newspapers.
“Sigma Nu fraternity won first place last year. We’re trying to top their sells this year,” Lopez said.
Sigma Nu again won the competition, selling 2,700 newspapers.
Holding an umbrella in one hand and newspapers in the other, Patricia Juarez, president of social work organization Trabajadores de la Raza said Kids Day is an awesome day that makes you happy to see so many people out in the streets.
“We have been here since 3 a.m. A little rain isn’t going to stop us,” Juarez said, Her organization sold newspapers on the corner of Shaw and Woodrow.
Some organizations found it difficult to find empty corners available to sell the special edition Fresno Bee.
“Some other club came around 4 a.m. and tried to take our spot. I don’t know who they were, all I know is that there was no way we were going to leave,” Juarez said.
While the rain dampened some organizations’ plans to sell newspapers, others said it was harder to find people who hadn’t already purchased a paper.
“It’s tough sales because once they get to your corner, they have already bought one or more newspapers or aren’t carrying cash,” Eunice Rosas, mass communication and journalism major said.
Competition for prizes and recognition are part of Kids Day, but some organizations said the satisfaction of performing community service is enough.
“Being able to sell the most is great, but I don’t think that we need recognition,” Brittania Leon, member of Sigma Alpha Zeta sorority said.
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