Loyalist PR Reaches United Way Goal

On Thursday, November 15, 2018, Loyalist College staff, faculty, and students came together to participate in games, a pop-up thrift shop, and raffles to support United Way of Prince Edward-Hastings (UWPEH).

The event was a success and we raised over $2,800, exceeding our campaign goal of $2,000! By holding various events around campus like the thrift shop and sports sale, Gear Up 4 United Way was able to attract people for a fun afternoon.

Post-event learnings

Having two places to collect raffles

Although we offered various ways to get raffles for prizes, we needed to keep the system simple. Students got confused between the raffle section and the games section. Some thought they had to buy raffle tickets at the raffle section to play games and others thought they had to buy game raffles to participate in the raffle section (see what I mean?!). Logical consistency would have been vital, and we should be able to explain the instructions in ten words or less. Having more than ten is too much information for a guest who is focussed more on the prize or game than the raffle logistics.

No people? No problem!

Unfortunately, there was not a lot of traffic at the games section in the morning. To encourage students to visit the games, Kaylee Anne Saint and I decided to walk around the campus and personally invite students to the event and let them know about the great prizes they could win. I learned that we should have dispersed volunteers across campus at checkpoints to encourage students who are not aware of the fundraiser to give a visit and see what the excitement was about.

A piano and a message

One of the activities at the fundraiser was signing a white piano to raise awareness for UWPEH Local Love campaign. Although I was skeptical about bringing in a heavy piano to write messages, I learned that it was a great idea! The piano embraced the awareness aspect of the campaign because the Local Love messages are shared on the piano and will continue to live after the event. Also, the president of Loyalist College thought the piano served as a mental health booster and Loyalist College will be keeping it, reinforcing the Local Love message in the cafeteria of the college.

Overall, students from the Loyalist Public Relations and Event Management program did a stellar job of getting the Loyalist College community aware, involved and excited about the event and UWPEH.