As students line up at Einstein’s to get their afternoon coffee fix, two management students, who once barely knew each other, sit together at a table selling Candy Grams to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
In a Facebook group created for the event, Robert Lopinto ’14 said, “We will come together as a nation and not let this devastation get us down. It is time that we all join as one and show everyone that the people of the United States of America are hands down the greatest individuals alive!”
The management class, taught by Professor Lisa Mainiero, came up with the idea as a way to give back after the devastation from Hurricane Sandy.
Hurricane Sandy claimed more than 85 deaths in the U.S., according to The Los Angeles Times, and displaced about 100,000 individuals from their homes and caused more than 8 million power outages, according to The Huffington Post.
Senior Henry Demaso, a member of the management class, said, “The Candy Gram event definitely brought our class together for a great cause.”
The class organized the event together, so it not only made an effort to bring the nation together, but also brought the class together.
The candy gram sale was set up yesterday in the Barone Campus Center, Dolan School of Business and the downtown Bookstore.
The students said that it took great class collaboration in order to set up the sale at all the various locations, but they knew it would increase the profit and success of the sale.
The class raised around $500 through the event. Professor Mainiero has another class that did a fundraiser by setting up donation boxes around campus. The other class’s donations were estimated around $500.
Donations were accepted through StagBucks, which made it much easier for students to donate and added to the money raised through the event.
Two members of the class are students studying abroad at Fairfield. One student, Matt LeMoal ’15, said, “Coming from France, being a part of this management class and participating in this fundraiser made me realize that American people are much more generous and eager to help out people in need than people in my country.”
LeMoal’s friend and classmate, Ramon Brito ‘13, from Brazil, agreed.
Senior Courtney Euler spear-headed the project. Euler is a resident of the beach at the University and is from New Jersey originally, so she experienced the devastation of Hurricane Sandy firsthand, which gave her motivation to want to see the event succeed.
Euler said the project was a collaboration of the whole class, and it brought the class much closer together for a great cause.
The class chose candy canes because they thought it was the perfect type of candy for the Christmas season. Professor Mainiero donated $100 of her own money for the class to purchase the candy canes and all proceeds are donated to Hurricane Sandy relief.
Euler said “People are more willing to give during the Christmas season, so we thought candy canes would be the perfect candy to sell, and candy rhymes with Sandy so we thought it would be really catchy.”
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