Business faculty take pies for charity

Professor Karen Banks had the rare opportunity Feb. 21 to fulfill the dream of many – \nshe got to hit her boss, Kelley School of Business Dean Dan Smith, in the face with a whipped-cream pie.\nEleven business professors and administrators each took a pie hit for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The second annual Pie-a-Professor raised $2,715 for the Big Brothers Big Sisters annual Bowl for Kids’ Sake event, said Nick Mattingly, Civic Leadership Development co-president. The Civic Leadership Development program, which organized the event, provides volunteering opportunities for business students. The organization has raised more than $12,000 for Bowl for Kids’ Sake, which more than doubles last year’s highest donation.\n“I went au natural, without the trash bag,” Smith said, although he admitted the Indiana sweatshirt he wore with pride is probably ruined. For anyone who plans to get pied, he advised a dress code of sunglasses, a trash bag around the neck and a backwards baseball cap, with mouth open and eyes shut.\n“The CLD has been an amazing partner to Big Brothers Big Sisters for many years now,” said Andrea Smith, operations director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana.\nLast December, when Andrea Smith asked Mattingly how much his organization planned to raise for the 2007-08 IU Bowl For Kids’ Sake, Mattingly jokingly replied “$10,000.”\n“I just threw out that number,” he said. “I was at least half-kidding.” The group raised a total of $12, 096.13, Mattingly said.\nLast year’s highest donation came from the Apparel Merchandising Organization, which contributed $5,588, according to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana Web site.\nFor Pie-a-Professor, students could buy raffle tickets for the chance to hit a teacher or administrator with a whipped cream pie. Professor Steven Kreft said his class raised the most “pie money” with $568.83. Kreft got hit by four of his students, one right after another.\nThis year is the 20th annual Bowl for Kids’ Sake, for which people form bowling teams that compete with fundraising prowess and 10-pound balls and sets of pins. Associate Development Director Lee Ann Jourdan said Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana receives almost a third of its yearly operating budget from the bowling event.\n“It’s our largest annual fund-raiser,” she said. IU teams are an encouraged to make a minimum donation of $500 and Community Bowl teams are encouraged to donate at least $625.\nThose involved with the organization and events agree that the effort is worth it.\n“If they wanted to pie me every week for this cause, I’d do it,” Smith said.