Event pulls Troy Camp out of debt

By Kyle Buchanan
Staff Writer

After one of the most successful Pass the Can fundraisers in years, Troy Camp, USC's official philanthropy organization, has been able to pay off a debt accumulated from past years' Troy Camp boards.
The Pass the Can event, which took place during halftime at Saturday's football game, raised approximately $13,000 for the organization. The amount was the most brought in in many years, and twice the intake of some years, said Jason Taketa, co-executive director of Troy Camp.
More than 50 Troy Camp volunteers helped in the Pass the Can event, said Steve Eggleston, co-director of Pass the Can for Troy Camp.
Also volunteering at the event were other students, as well as members of the campus service group USC Helenes.
"I am delighted with the success and hard work that Troy Camp put into this year's Pass the Can," said David Crandall, director of Student Activities. Crandall cited the football team's performance at halftime as one of the things that boosted this year's intake.
"To be honest, one of the things that I think helped was the fact that the football team was winning by three touchdowns and people were feeling pretty good," he said. "The things that probably combine to make the biggest difference are how well Troy Camp gets the word out, and how organized they are going up and down the aisles with the containers, and they obviously did those very well this year."
With the addition of the Pass the Can money and the $9,000 it already had in the bank, Troy Camp is now able to pay off the nearly $14,000 in bills that were accumulated by past Troy Camps' debts.
Crandall said the major part of the debt came from problems that started two years ago when Troy Camp decided to expand beyond its normal week-long camp for inner-city kids.
"Two years ago, the group set as a goal to do two weeks of camp," Crandall said, "and before they had that money in hand, they went and committed to that two weeks of camp, and their fundraising didn't follow through."
The debt problems continued the following year after an unsuccessful raffle last spring. Troy Camp had planned to sell 50,000 tickets for the raffle of a 1997 Ford Mustang as a grand prize and a trip to Hawaii as second prize, but only 9,000 tickets were sold, leaving a $41,000 discrepancy.
"They didn't give themselves enough time to do (the raffle)," said Crandall, who added that a successful raffle probably would have needed to last a year or two.
Although the trip to Hawaii was given away, the Mustang, which was never purchased, was not, and Troy Camp still has not decided how to and if it will reimburse the ticket buyers.
"We haven't had time yet," Taketa said.
Possible solutions Troy Camp officials have debated include a reimbursement of tickets or a raffling off of a lesser prize. Crandall said he hopes that, for the most part, students' intent in buying raffle tickets was to donate money to Troy Camp.
"Most of (the students) bought tickets for this raffle to support Troy Camp," Crandall said. "All of us might have hoped to win the car, but we all knew that really the reason we did this was to support Troy Camp."
The group still needs to raise the estimated $20,000 for the camp itself, as well as $5,000 to $10,000 for other activities. Taketa said upcoming fundraisers include the Gamma Phi Grand Prix, put on by sorority Gamma Phi Beta, trips to television tapings and Christmas wreath sales in the winter.
"They still have a long way to go in order to come out of some of the financial difficulties they are facing this year," Crandall said, "but they have been doing all the right things, and I'm very confident that people will get behind them and make them as successful as they deserve."