Charity events during Homecoming last week had a good response but holding them during a less busy time may have been a better alternative.
“The charity carnival was really a huge success,” said Joy Fulkerson, coordinator for community service programs at ETSU. She said that it raised around $900 for the United Way. She considers that pretty successful considering tickets were sold for 25 cents each.
There were around 15 student groups that helped with the carnival. Classic carnival elements like cotton candy and a dunking booth were set up. Games like musical chairs and skee ball were also featured.
A lot of hard work went into the carnival booths. “They built it themselves,” Fulkerson said, referring to the skee ball game. She said it was probably the most popular one featured at the carnival.
Prizes given out at the carnival included a $50 gift card to Wal-Mart, candy and pizza coupons.
Another gift was the good weather. It was a concern and there were back-up plans but it was not a problem. “The weather turned out great,” Fulkerson said.
Fulkerson said that the carnival also was helpful to the different sororities and fraternities. “It was a neat and good way to publicize their organization,” she said.
The Red Cross Blood Drive held last week was also very successful. “For our goals, we did extremely well,” Fulkerson said.
She said that the goal on Tuesday was only 20 donors because they were understaffed. They ended up nearly doubling that goal with around 37 donors. Fulkerson said that they “actually turned some people away and asked them to come back on Wednesday.”
Those who were asked to come back did not disappoint. There were around 80 donors on Wednesday, surpassing the goal of 50.
Volunteer ETSU holds two blood drives a year, one in the fall semester and one in the spring. The spring drive will be held on Feb. 7 and 8.
There are several other drives held throughout the year by other organizations. “Our students have multiple opportunities to give,” she said. These include the Staff Senate, ROTC and Campus Ministries drives.
Fulkerson said that Volunteer ETSU is already “looking to plan a fall date for next year.” She said that they are thinking about holding a drive with another school, making it a rivalry. She believes that tying a ballgame in with a drive may draw interest.
It would make the drive “more of a university-wide effort,” she said. She said that it all depends on next year’s basketball schedule as to whether or not it will work.
Fulkerson said it would take some time to see if scheduling these events during Homecoming worked as well as Volunteer ETSU wanted them to. “It was difficult to draw attention to these events,” she said. “There was just so much going on.”
Despite being a little busy, Fulkerson said she and Volunteer ETSU enjoyed doing these events during Homecoming. “We were very pleased to cover and share the week with the Homecoming Committee,” she said.

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