Everyone knows that college students love pizza. Late night cravings can be the worst, and who wants to go home and order pizza on a Friday or Saturday night? Wouldn't it be convenient if someone sold pizza and other snacks right in the middle of everyone's weekend activities? That is exactly what one group of girls did this weekend, and for a very worthy cause.
Nicole Ward and her sisters in the Delta Zeta sorority decided to capitalize on the late night cravings of Longwood students. Ward is the chair of Turtle Tug and Relay For life in Delta Zeta. On Friday, Oct. 21 and Saturday, Oct 22 starting at 10:00 p.m., these ladies sold pizza and Oreos to passersby from the porch of 409 Buffalo St.
It looked like a more grown-up version of a lemonade stand. About six girls sat behind a table on the porch with posters across the front. Wrapped up in blankets and sweaters to fight off the cold October evening, they kept hot pizzas coming out of the oven to meet demand. "They're frozen pizzas," Ward explained. "We'll keep sticking them in as we need them." Students were rather enthusiastic about the idea, and excitedly explained that the pizza was delicious.
All of the profits from the cleverly named "Buffalo Wild Weekend" went to benefit the Longwood Center for Communications, Literacy and Learning, which is a non-profit run by Longwood faculty and graduate students. Located in Downtown Farmville on the corner of Third and Main St., they offer tutoring in English, math and social skills to local families, along with speech therapy and evaluations.
Ward's sisters were quick to credit her with this idea. "She basically did all of this," said Hanna Oullette. "She's very creative."
She explained that she was trying to think of a way to make money by selling food. Bake sales are common on campus, but everyone is always in a hurry to get to class during the week.
"No one's rushing here," Georgia Pearson said. The more relaxed atmosphere and the weekend excitement worked, making their venture much more profitable. "Who doesn't want pizza on the weekend?" Ward said. She also pointed out that people were much more likely to spend money on a Friday or Saturday night than they were in the middle of a week day on campus. In the two nights they worked, they made about $160 for the cause, she said.
Things seemed to start off a little slow, but Ward explained they were the busiest between the hours of 11 and 12.
This isn't the only event Delta Zeta has planned this week to benefit the Longwood Center for Communications, Literacy and Learning. Their annual Turtle Tug is on Oct. 26. They remind everyone to "make sure you go to Turtle Tug! It's Wednesday at 4:00 on Iler Field! It's going to be a lot of fun!"
