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Printer-Friendly ModeTiebreaker Approaches
Can the epic fundraiser between SVSU and Grand Valley earn as much charity money, given how Labor Day shortened this year's schedule?
August 31, 2009 —
SVSU and Grand Valley, deadlocked with three wins each, prepare for the seventh Battle of the Valleys. But the competition’s timing this year could create several problems that neither side has faced.
Traditionally, the charity fundraising contest spans the week before the schools’ annual rivalry football game. With the game on Saturday, Sept. 12, the Battle of the Valleys is set to run Sept. 6 to 11, the second week of classes. The Battle has never been held this early.
Ryan Kanine, president of Student Association, said he is worried that the timing could decrease the schools’ profits for the organizations they are sponsoring.
SVSU will raise money for Saginaw County’s Boys & Girls Club, the local chapter of a nationwide organization that offers after-school activities to help keep at-risk teens off the streets.
From Allendale, Grand Valley will raise funds for the Kids Food Basket, a Grand Rapids organization that helps children receive nutritious meals.
Becky Griffin, speaker of the House in SA, said the association will try to compensate for lost time by boosting publicity for the Battle’s events — with campuswide e-mails, Facebook postings, flyers, information packets and representative tables on campus.
She said SA gets the question all the time: How does SVSU raise as much money as it has? For every Cardinal at SVSU, Grand Valley has 2.3 Lakers to match. But SVSU accounts for nearly $118,000 of the $220,000 collected in the Battle’s history. The Cardinals won last year’s competition, raising more than $47,000, against the Lakers’ $28,000.
SVSU’s strategy, she said, is twofold. “We’re the smaller university, so we’ve had to be really creative,” Griffin said. “We started planning this last winter — so it’s months and months of preparation.”
The biggest reason for past success, she added, has been the support of students on campus. Many registered organizations help plan and put on the events. “College students love competition,” she said. “You put them in a competitive environment, and they’ll do good things.”
Labor Day poses a key problem this year. The national holiday falls on Monday, Sept. 7, and classes will not resume until Wednesday. Many commuters will probably not be on campus two of the Battle’s first three days, Griffin said.
At a school where three in four students commute, the effect on charity proceeds could be quite noticeable, she said. Kanine said he also knows that economic times are tougher this year. The association has noticed it when they have asked for donations and sponsorships.
“Although we understand that, I just don’t want that to be an excuse,” he said. “To me, if times are tougher, then that money is so much more important for an organization like this.”
What surprised Kanine about the Boys & Girls Club, he said, is how involved they want to be. “They keep asking how they can help, if we need volunteers or anything,” he said. “After I met with them, I realized the competition didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted us to do it for them.”
Kanine and Griffin both said that if the Battle doesn’t go as well as they hope, SA will continue to fundraise for the Boys & Girls Club until they reach their goal.
So Student Association has plans. They will hold a five-kilometer race Monday and hope to also sell T-shirts at Haithco Park in Saginaw.
Tuesday, for example, Griffin said they hope to focus their attention on faculty and staff, especially with a dodgeball game between the SVSU workers.
But other events will tie well into Battle of the Valleys, Kanine said. The Price is Right, last year’s finals relief event led by SA and Program Board, will be a Battle fundraiser this year. Students can pay to have their names entered into the drawing from which contestants and prizewinners will be chosen.
The Amazing Race, an annual scavenger hunt event, will give student teams’ entry fees to the Battle fund, too. A portion of the vendor fees at this year’s Card Party, the student organization picnic, will go toward the Boys & Girls Club.
New events this year include ventures with restaurants. Students can buy and sell coupons throughout the week for Hungry Howie’s, a pizzeria chain.
On Sunday, students can buy a drink from Tropical Smoothie Café on Bay Rd. and ask that a portion of the price goes toward the Battle.
Other fundraisers throughout the week include a T-shirt sale, a poker tournament, discount haircuts, a date auction, pizza sales, a singing competition, a golf scramble and a Ping-Pong competition. Students also plan to collect money from drivers at street corners and pump gas for donations.
Diners can donate a meal’s worth of money to the organization at the Real Food on Campus dining center.
The competition officially begins midnight Sunday, Sept. 6, and all funds must be collected by 12 a.m. Friday night. The winner is announced after the third quarter of the football game, which is held 7 p.m. Saturday at Grand Valley.
SA will rent two buses for the game with total seating of 100 students. The association will sell tickets to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club.
“Out of all that SVSU students do — all the fundraisers and events — there’s no other one that benefits the Saginaw community like the Battle of the Valleys,” Kanine said. “Sure, rivalry fuels us to put in a lot of work, but in the end, it’s all about the charity.” For more information and a schedule of events, visit svsu.edu/bov.