BU groups focus fund drives around holiday

Love is in the air once again, and Boston University student groups took advantage of Valentine’s Day this week by manning tables in the George Sherman Union Link and pushing love-themed goods that ranged from teddy bears to singing telegrams.

Several members of the Marine Science Association, including College of Arts and Sciences senior Melissa Penn, sold pet goldfish to raise funds for their group.

“It’s definitely an alternate Valentine’s Day gift,” Penn said. “It’s a funny thing to give to significant others.”

Club Treasurer Sam Mascuch, a CAS sophomore, said the association is hoping to raise money to buy club T-shirts and host a National Geographic underwater photographer as a speaker.

The BU branch of First Book, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing books for children in low-income families, sold bookmarks and Valentine’s Day cookies that students could decorate.

“We chose to be present in the GSU Link this week because of the popularity of Valentine’s week,” said club co-founder and co-Chair Laura Kolar, a School of Education senior. “It’s a great location for such events because so many people walk through the GSU every day, and they are expecting to see lots of fun stuff there this week.”

Members of Aural Fixation, a 13-member all-female a cappella group, capitalized on their talent by offering singing telegrams. CAS sophomore Rebecca Orecchia said the group hopes to raise enough money to help them record a CD, which costs $7,000.

“Valentine’s Day is a holiday everyone gets into – it’s easy to find songs and it’s a time of year when it’s OK to be corny,” she said. “It’d be hard to pull off a fundraiser like this any other time of the year.”

Orecchia said students ordered singing telegrams for a variety of people.

“A lot of people send ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’ to their moms,” Orecchia said.

Two clubs representing Latino culture, La Fuerza and Danzon, joined forces to sell Valentine’s Day teddy bears.

“We’ve only sold a few so far,” School of Management senior Gerry Coello said, “but we’re expecting a lot more to be sold this Friday.”

The club’s organizers said they hope to raise money to support programs they run year-round.

“We need to raise money in order to have successful events, and to make them as free or close to free as possible for the BU public,” said CAS senior Alejandra Garza, one of the fundraiser’s main organizers.

Some of the proceeds will go to help the group participate in April’s East Coast Chicano Student Forum conference, Coello said.

Wandering Minds, a theater group, offered a different twist by selling candy delivery, club President Samantha Nelson said.

“We would deliver the confections to boyfriends’ dorms or wherever they needed to go,” said the CAS and COM senior.

Nelson said Valentine’s Day offers the perfect opportunity to raise money for Wandering Minds’ performances.

“We do two plays a year and receive limited funding from BU, so it’s important to supplement that,” she said. “It’s a good time of the year to fundraise because it’s early enough before our shows.”

Even Victoria’s Secret representatives were on campus to promote the company’s new line of underwear for the holiday. Three models manned a table in the GSU Wednesday offering coupons for a pair of free cotton panties. The cards moved quickly and they went to more than just women, the models said.

“We’ve been giving away 200 cards an hour,” model Devon Diep said Wednesday. “We’ve already exceeded our goal for the day.”

“Both girls and guys have been stopping by and picking up the coupons,” added model Reetika Vijay.

Aside from fundraisers, Student Activities Office Assistant Anna Morey said SAO did not have record of any other Valentine’s Day-specific events.

“There’s probably less programming this weekend than normal because it’s a long weekend and people are going away,” she said.