Student group leads Valentine’s Day fundraiser, proceeds to go to Kauri Sue Hamilton School
Roses are red, violets are blue, no one does Valentine’s Day like Aggies do!
This Valentine’s Day, one group of students showed their love by hosting the Charity Berries fundraiser.
In the managing people and organizations class, groups of students were given the project of developing a business and donating the proceeds to charity. One of these groups’ businesses became the Charity Berries Fundraiser, in which they sold chocolate-covered strawberries and other treats.
Jacob Miller, a member of the fundraiser majoring in political science, said the group wanted to donate their fundings to a local charity.
“We wanted to make an impact,” Miller said. “We didn’t want to donate to a super big charity where money wouldn’t go as far.”
Jonathan Bundy, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, led the group in choosing which charity they wanted to raise money for. He suggested Kauri Sue Hamilton, a school in Riverton.
Kauri Sue Hamilton helps students grades K-12, as well as adults, who have learning or developmental disabilities. Its focus is on helping improve the quality of life for students and helping them achieve all they can.
Bundy said before his sister went to Kauri Sue, she hadn’t had good experiences at school.
“Kids would single her out,” Bundy said. “But when she went to Kauri Sue, she was so happy all the time. They took care of her.”
This fundraiser isn’t the first time Bundy has done a service project for the school. In high school, he did an Eagle Scout project for them.
“I’ve always loved Kauri Sue,” Bundy said. “Anything I can do to help them out is amazing.”
Once the group settled on their charity, they started planning what they would sell for their business.
Ethan Rawlings, a sophomore in aviation, said the original idea was inspired by lemonade stands.
“Let’s do something different,” Rawlings said. “Let’s do a bacon stand. We’d get a lot of sales.”
According to Rawlings, the group was excited about bacon, especially when they decided to craft the bacon strips into roses.
However, when Bundy tried it out, the bacon didn’t cook correctly, and the shape of the roses didn’t work.
“‘Absolutely terrible,’” Bundy said. “Those were the exact words I used.”
Lindsey Scott, sophomore in communication studies, said the group navigated away from the bacon roses after the first awful attempt and decided to make Valentine’s boxes.
“Chocolate-covered strawberries is the thing we focused on,” Scott said. “We also did chocolate-covered Rice Krispie treats and pretzels in each box as well.”
This gave them the idea for their name of the Charity Berries Fundraiser. The group took presale orders for the boxes by handing out flyers with QR codes and both handed them out on the Quad and personally delivered them.
According to Miller, the group has learned valuable lessons in teamwork throughout the class, especially with this project.
“We’ve all been pretty open to listening, taking whoever has an idea and we’d run with it if we all like it,” Miller said. “We’ve been working together and compromising on things really well.”
Scott said the group project was a major portion of their grade, so they were all nervous about it before they were assigned their group.
“I remember seeing it and I was like, ‘Oh yikes, that’s kind of scary,’” Scott said. “I think we’re going to end up doing really well on this project, and it’s been so fun.”
Bundy said he was very happily surprised with how well the group dynamic turned out.
“The professor said something at one point like, ‘You don’t get to choose who you work with in the job field,’” Bundy said. “I got lucky with these guys.”
Apart from learning how to work well in a team, Rawlings said the group has also learned valuable business skills from both their class and their group project.
“I’ve actually learned how to make starting a business work,” Rawlings said. “Sales are supposed to be three times as much as the original.”
According to Bundy, the class has been valuable for his life, even as a mechanical engineering major who didn’t have to take it.
“I feel like starting businesses and working with people is like my passion,” Bundy said. “I guess I took it for fun.”
Bundy said the class has helped him feel more connected to both Kauri Sue Hamilton and students at USU. According to Bundy, students were getting excited about their cause when they were handing out flyers.
“The kids at Kauri Sue, they just love people,” Bundy said. “I think everyone’s been touched by somebody who’s disabled. It’s just like this special light that they carry with them.”
For more information about the Kauri Sue Hamilton school, visit kaurisuehamilton.jordandistrict.org/.