Nuts to you!

The Office of Development literally went nuts trying to come up with a clever way to thank last year's Annual Fund donors for their contribution in conjunction with the kickoff for the 2002 campaign. Past "thank yous" came in the form of Payday and 100 Grand candy bars.

"We were running out of candy bars with names having to do with money," said Ashley Privott, coordinator of the Campus Community Campaign. Then Privott's mother came up with a clever suggestion: nuts. Not just any nuts, though: cashews - with the saying, "Thanks for the Cashew Gave Us."

Nearly 600 packages of cashews were sent through campus mail March 4 to last year's donors, and the response has been quite favorable.

Privott says she'll worry later about next year's thank-you gift. For now, she's working hard with volunteers throughout the campus to meet this year's $110,000 goal.