Putting your money where your heart is

Wednesday, March 14 — Selling kisses for charity is nothing new. But selling votes? Hmmm…

The Big Bang-quet was first conceived late last year, when the University Club asked its members to nominate their favorite charities for inclusion in a large fundraising drive. Twenty-six charities were nominated, including the Red Cross, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Capital Area Humane Society, Child and Family Charities, Ronald McDonald House, the Salvation Army and many others.

“The most important thing is that it’s a wide variety of charities,” that “ranges from the arts, to domestic violence, to social services,” says Karen Grannemann, the coordinator of the Big Bang-quet Community Charity Challenge, which was put together by the University Club, in partnership with MSU Federal Credit Union and the Capital Region Community Foundation. “The variety turned out to be absolutely incredible. We couldn’t have picked a better, diverse array of organizations.”