Guest blogger Lena at the donations table

Last week, Campus Kitchens at Johns Hopkins used an annual stand-up comedy show for good instead of evil…

Well, that was what the show’s director said when he introduced two of our members to tell the audience who we were and that we wanted their money. The show is part of a class that the director, a Hopkins grad who stars on the Food Network, has been holding during our winter break for the past five years. Students who take it get two credits for learning about comedic styles and techniques and then performing their own five-minute stand-up routine at the show.

Two of our members had the brilliant idea of seeing if we could use the show, which draws about 500 viewers every year, as a fundraiser. The kind-hearted director agreed, and so we set up a booth with some ghetto fabulous donation boxes (made from yogurt cartons, shoe boxes, and LOTS of duct tape)… and we raised just under $200 by the end of the night.

We began just by introducing ourselves and our cause, then passed the donation boxes around and held them at the booth behind the venue for people to get another chance to donate as they were leaving. Lots of people were very interested in Campus Kitchens and some people even signed up to volunteer. In addition, several of the student comedians plugged us during their routines. It was a really great experience, and it was a nice reminder that even at our odd little nerd school, plenty of people have good hearts.

We’re going to try again with more events and perhaps we’ll even have a legitimate, duct tape-free fundraising event by the end of the semester. Reach for the stars, right?

The end.

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