Kelley fundraiser yields class credit

Business professor David Rubinstein has a challenge for students in his organizational management course. He wants them to change the world. \nThat might sound like a lofty goal – and Rubinstein admits it is – but he says students need to create their own organizations to learn, instead of simply reading about other companies’ successes.\n“They will teach themselves more than I can ever teach them, more than I can ever teach in a book,” he said. \nSo the 35 students in W430: Organizations and Organizational Change, a Kelley School of Business course, are working together to raise money to send pop-culture care packages to U.S. troops fighting overseas. \nThe packages will be filled with entertainment luxuries such as CDs, DVDs, playing cards and magazines, plus some practical supplies, said senior Jason Gasior, a student in the course.\n“We’re going to kind of get the necessities first and then move down to desires,” he said.\nBut to put the packages together, the class needs money. Rubinstein said that’s where the business and organization side comes in. \nThe students have been divided into groups and committees, each responsible for a part of the project. One group is leading the fundraising efforts, while others are asking military representatives what items to send to the soldiers.\n“We’re learning how to communicate between committees,” said Joanna Linsley, a management and international business major. “Every day in class we have to go over what we’ve done, how much more money we’ve raised. ... Basically we’re just learning firsthand how to pull a group of people together and accomplish a goal.”\nThe group already created shot glasses with the slogan “Giving the troops a better shot,” which students are selling around campus for $5 each.\nOn March 1, the class is hosting a fundraising event at The Jungle Room, 430 E. Kirkwood Ave.\nAll drinks will be $2.50, and the bar is donating the $3 cover charge to the class. \nAaron Steele, The Jungle Room’s owner, said he knows soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he understands their hardships. \n“I think if you actually knew someone over there and were able to talk to them and send them a letter or something, they’ll tell you it sucks,” he said. “It’s dusty, it’s hot – it’s no fun. If I could do anything to lighten up their day or help them out in any way, I’ll try to do so.”\nGasior, who is helping organize Thursday’s event, said he’s unsure of how much money the group will make, but $1,000 is the goal. And he’s hoping a night of cheap drinks will only help the fundraising efforts.\n“Hopefully by 3 a.m., when everybody’s fairly intoxicated, we might be able to get a couple of bucks that way,” he said. \nStill, the group wants to raise $7,777.77, Linsley said, a challenging goal that means more fundraising is needed. Professor Rubinstein picked the figure because “he likes to put his own stamp on things,” Linsley said.\nThe group has a deadline of April 1 and said it will make as many care packages as it can out of the money it receives.\nRubinstein said he doesn’t know if the project will succeed or fail.\nEven though twhe project counts for only 10 percent of the students’ final grades, their drive is enough to make him proud, Rubinstein said.\n“They’re going to change the world, and the only way they can do that is starting with a little piece of the world,” he said. “I like to think once they’ve done that they’ll make it a habit.”