Collins Center annual fruit sale to begin today

During the days before Thanksgiving break and winter break, residents of Collins Center and volunteers from the Bloomington Central Lions Club will be selling fruit at the Indiana Memorial Union.\nRepresentatives from both groups will be working on the annual fruit sale and fundraiser at the IMU Literature Desk from noon to 2 p.m. today and tomorrow.\nThey will be selling fresh gourmet fruit to eat out of hand and gift bags of a combination of apples, oranges and grapefruit. Bags can be delivered anywhere on campus for free, courtesy of Lions Club volunteers. Fruit costs 60 cents per piece or about $5 for a gift bag.\nLast year, the sale raised more than $800 for local community service organizations, including RISE/Middle Way House, Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, Public Health Nursing and numerous Lions Club eye care programs, including training and Leader Dogs for the sight impaired.\nSenior Kyra Busch, Collins philanthropy director, said another benefit of the fundraiser and the partnership with The Lions Club is that it brings together college students with older citizens, working toward common goals.\n"We like it because it's fun, it's easy and everyone likes to have good fruit," she said. "(The Lions Club) asked us if we wanted to do it, and we thought it would be a fun way to continue the partnership"