The Employee and Organizational Development and Advancement Department (EODA) raised money for student scholarships during its fourth annual Halloween Costume Fundraiser.
For the past four years, EODA has challenged a different department on campus as part of the October event in order to raise funds for students. In the first three years, the department has raised over $10,000 for various student advancement projects and scholarships.
“This year, we challenged Student Affairs and they decided to raise money for Thanksgiving meals for students,” said Kimberly Allain, assistant vice president for EODA. “We raised $2,900 towards our scholarship, which means we will be able to pay a student’s tuition while Student Affairs raised $2,700 for Thanksgiving meals.”
This fundraiser started off as a way for Allain and her department to get to know individuals from other departments across campus. The first year, the costume contest’s theme was an ode to the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” and there was no fundraising component. From there, Allain decided to introduce the fundraiser.
“Cal Poly Pomona gives so much to us so we decided that we should give back to our students,” Allain said.
After the first year, the event took off. For the past two years, EODA has partnered with University Advancement to see what charities could benefit from the fundraiser, and the department has raised funds for student laptops and the Poly Pantry in addition to EODA’s scholarship.
“I hope the students know how much we care for them and that their success is our priority and even though our work is indirect to them, we always hold them as our number one priority,” said Allain.
Past costume themes for the fundraiser event have included Hollywood, space and Disney. Participation in the fundraiser is not mandatory, but it is something that the EODA staff looks forward to participating in every year.
“I love what we’re able to do for students but also love the way that the teams come together,” Allain said. “It’s amazing to see how much everyone is all in because they want to help out our students.”