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Huntsman Cancer Institute receives very unique donation from USU Business Council on Friday

Marissa Neeley, staff writer

The Business Council of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business made a donation on Friday to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, sending letters of encouragement, sleeping masks and origami flowers.

 

“I’m estimating 2,000 letters, 600 sleeping masks, and about 500 flowers,” said Jameson Olsen, a member of the Business Council and vice president of professional development.

 

The Business Council, Olsen said, serves the HCI for two reasons.

 

“One, because it’s a way for us to directly show our appreciation to the Huntsman family for all that they have done for the business school here in Logan,” Olsen said. “The donations he has made, as well as the work he does for us as an ambassador and promoter, are immensely cherished by those of us at the Huntsman School of Business.”

 

Olsen said the Business Council enjoys doing service projects that directly help those in need.

 

“This project allows us to donate goods that go straight to the hands of cancer patients, whereas monetary donations sometimes get used for other purposes,” Olsen said. “In past years we had just done fundraising drives for the HCI, but we didn’t like how cold it felt.”

Olsen said the council’s project is the perfect service opportunity for college students on a budget.

“College students are poor, so any monetary donation is a great thing, but it doesn’t take much effort or concern to reach in your pocket and put a couple bills in a container,” he said. “We wanted to do something that directly connected cancer patients to students and something that helped students think a little bit more about who they were helping. That is why, beginning last year during Business Week, we started doing these craft projects instead.”

 

The Business Council contacted the HCI about needed items or items that would give patients a bit of joy, said Blanca Raphael, the HCI patient and family resources manager.

 

“Last year they made hundreds of origami style flowers using 4-by-4 (inch) sheets of scrapbooking paper,” Raphael said. “They turned out beautiful and the patients appreciated them, especially those patients that are not allowed to have fresh flowers – it really cheered them up.”

 

The group also wrote hundreds of get-well notes that were passed out to the patients, Raphael said. Along with the notes and origami flowers, the group made fleece blankets.  

 

“These are always our biggest need since we give them to patients that have completed their chemotherapy treatments, their radiation oncology treatments or have just received a bone marrow transplant,” Raphael said. “The patients cherish the blankets, as they symbolize warmth and support from the community.”   

 

The project, which occurred during Business Week, had four locations set up – at the TSC, LDS Institute, Merrill-Cazier Library and the business building.

 

“Throughout the day, we saw hundreds of students from all majors and colleges help out for anywhere from five minutes to two to three hours each,” Olsen said. “Our goal was to make this not be a business school service project, but a USU service project that was merely organized by the Huntsman School of Business. It was fulfilling to see people sit down, make a flower and make some new friends at the same time.”

 

Brian White, vice president of marketing for the Business Council, was in charge of organizing the marketing campaign for Business Week and
insuring people showed up to the event.

 

“For HCI, we tried to market the best we could,” White said. “It was an opportunity to give back to Mr. and Mrs. Huntsman by giving eye masks, paper flowers and letters of encouragement to the patients. I felt like we had a pretty good turnout. We put a lot of time and planning to make sure we have as good of a turn out as possible.”

 

The council wasn’t able to deliver the items personally to the patients due to a timing issue.

 

“The gratitude that was expressed by those who received the gifts to give to the patients was enormous,” White said.

Raphael said USU’s contributions are always welcome at HCI.

“We are grateful to live in such a giving community and the patients really appreciate the support of all individuals as they battle with their cancer,” Raphael said.