By Charles Purnell
Daily Titan Staff Writer
Published: May 16, 2010

A team of six students from Professor Diane Witmer’s comm. 464 class (Public Relations Management) completed their semester project by raising more than $500 for the Boys and Girls Club of Fullerton.

The team, which adopted the name “Accelerated Communications,” hosted a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club on Earth Day (April 22) at ZPizza in Fullerton.

The event’s eco-friendly theme was in line with ZPizza being a restaurant that uses only organic and fresh ingredients.

Accelerated Communications generated more than $1,000 in sales for ZPizza, at the event, which lasted from 5 and 8 p.m. Nicole McCallum, general manager of ZPizza, said their policy is to give 30 percent of gross sales to the organization hosting the fundraiser, unless the organization raises more than $1,000, in which case they give the organization 50 percent.

The Boys and Girls Club received $537 from the event.

In addition to raising funds, Accelerated Communications organized Earth Day projects for the kids, including decorating terra-cotta pots they planted seeds, and delineating on canvasses ideas on how they can help save the Earth.

The artwork was showcased at ZPizza during the event and is currently on display at the Fullerton Library in the children’s section until May 21.

Monir Maghsoudi, 23, a public relations major, is the group’s leader.

“I went by there a couple of days later, after the art was hung, to talk to a librarian,” Maghsoudi said. “And she said there was this one kid who came in and was so excited to show her dad (her painting) was up there.”

Maghsoudi described comm. 464 as the mecca of public relations classes.

In the first three weeks of class, Witmer gave out assignments designed to allow for students to get to know each other by their strengths and weaknesses. Next, her students were told to form groups of six.

One group bonded and decided on the name Accelerated Communications Public Relations, but they had a hard time working together early on.

“So bad the professor almost pulled the plug on our group,” Maghsoudi said.

The first group assignment was to formulate a public relations plan and present it to the teacher and a client.

Their client was Relay for Life, and they graded the first assignment along with the professor.

Accelerated Communications failed the first assignment.

Their second assignment was to contact a company for which they would create a public relations plan and implement it.

The Boys and Girls Club of Fullerton was the first company they contacted. Their event coordinator, James Dow, agreed right away to go along with Accelerated Communication’s plan.

With Earth Day approaching and ZPizza offering its space to the Boys and Girls Club, the group rejected ideas for a teen dance and an art show, deciding on a program – with Earth Day as the its theme – to raise funds, create and display art, and include ZPizza.

Accelerated Communications contacted about 30 businesses, and 13 of them responded with donations.

One business donated $500, and another pitched in $100. KROQ came by the event and handed out small gifts. Other companies donated gifts that were used to fill 30 gift bags that were raffled off at the event.

The grand prize for the raffle was a new mountain bike.

The group hung a banner in ZPizza commemorating companies that contributed. Among the companies were Home Depot, Tutti Frutti and Harley Davidson.

“This team struggled for a long time, but did a very creditable job on their final campaign,” Witmer said. “They knew they blew the first assignment … and were pretty disheartened. I must say, their final product exceeded my expectations.”

According to Maghsoudi, McCallum said she learned so much about putting on events from the group, and she asked for a copy of the public relations proposal and plan.

“Dealing with students is very refreshing,” McCallum said. “They bring a positive spin on everything and the hard work they put into this project certainly showed by the success of the event.