By Roseline Twagiramariya
Issue date: 11/16/06
Section: News
While some students will be heating up Ramen noodles for dinner, one student, along with a few other people, will be dining in the home of Western’s president.
Members of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) are raising money by giving one student, faculty member, staff member and Warren County citizen a chance to spend 100 minutes with President Gary Ransdell.
The winners will eat dinner at Ransdell’s house. The event is also in honor of Western’s Centennial.
This is not the first time the Ransdells have had to host dinner guests, so they know what to expect, Ransdell said.
“If it’s helpful to the program then it’s OK by me, and I like to help. We do stuff like this all the time and have had dinners like this before,” Ransdell said.
Participants who were at least 18 years of age were able to bid in an online auction for a dinner at Ransdell’s home.
Participants bid during homecoming weekend, and had until 4 p.m. on Oct. 29 to place their offer.
The meal will take place no later than Saturday, May 12, 2007, provided that the winners, along with the president’s office, agree on a time and date.
Shelia Houchins is the staff winner from the Information Technology department.
“I’m a big supporter of our students and I’ve always liked to support the student organizations on campus, and I just like to do whatever I can to help out,” Houchins said. “Plus, it’s a good opportunity to spend a little bit of time with the president.”
PRSSA members got the idea from hearing about a similar fundraiser at a conference, PRSSA’s Student President Dara Hardin said.
“We had a hunch that President Ransdell was the type of president that would do something like this,” Hardin said. “One phone call. That’s all it took for President Ransdell to say yes.”
Hardin said it was a fun thing for them to do and they wanted to do something other than the usual car wash or bake sale fundraiser.
This project involved other people and campus organizations such as Image West, who created the 100-minute dinner promotional that was used for all the handouts, banners and posters.
The goal for the fundraiser was $1,200; and the bids totaled $1,470. PRSSA members plan to make this an annual event. The proceeds will be used to invite professionals from various fields to speak at Western. The event will be titled “Pro Series” and most likely will take place next spring.
