What is a surefire way to get the attention of college students?   Offer to feed them!

On Tuesday afternoon, October 20, 2009, students in the Robert Morris University Institute of Culinary Arts program set out from their kitchen classrooms, armed with spoons.  They were not just any spoons affixed to the end of each spoon was an invitation to an ice cream social.  Just bring your spoon, each culinary student explained, as they passed out their unique invitations to nursing students, business, computer and art students throughout the main campus at 401 S. State Street in Chicago. 

At 2:30 p.m., the doors of the RMU culinary kitchens opened and the students poured in.  Of course, with the line growing longer, it gave the student group Cooks for a Cause (CFC), the organizers of the event, ample time to encourage RMU students to participate in their philanthropic efforts.

Cat Alaimo, originally from Cleveland but currently a Bucktown resident, is a culinary student working on her bachelors degree.  She is also one of the movers and shakers, along with founder Brad Hindsley, of Cooks for a Cause.  Entering its third year, a group of culinary students created the organization to lend society a helping hand and cater to our community.

Since its inception, CFC has raised almost $13,000 for breast cancer research.  They sponsored the Family Readiness Group, preparing meals for units of service men and women at pre-mobilization briefings before the deployed for Iraq or Afghanistan.  They have baked hundred of cookies and prepared hundreds of boxed lunches for volunteer tax filers.  This past year, they teamed up with Chicago Cares to paint a childrens elementary school in the south side, also contributing $1500 from their budget.

The ice cream social was an effort to inform and recruit more RMU students to join the organization.  The next project CFC is about to undertake is three days of baking 11,000 holiday cookies for Share the Spirit, a project of DuPage Countys Peoples Resource Center.  Robert Morris CFC is seeking out donations to cover the cost of baking the cookies.  The group is also planning to hold a Silent Auction to help raise additional funds.

Im looking for real participation, Cat told students as they filed into the culinary dining room.  Are you serious about helping? she asked a student as he signed the sheet.  Yes, Ill be there, he promised, referring to the next CFC meeting.

Before the social was over, Cat had a number of new names on her sign up list and had also collected contributions from attendees, proving once again that the way to a students heart, is often through his or her stomach.

Robert Morris University Illinois is a not-for-profit, baccalaureate and graduate degree granting institution, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.* The University serves over 8000 students interested in getting an education in business, graphic arts, nursing and health care, culinary and computer studies at its main campus in Chicago, as well as at locations in DuPage, Orland Park, Bensenville, Springfield, Peoria, Schaumburg and Lake County.  For more information, call 800-RMC-5960 or visit the web site at www.robertmorris.edu
*Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, 30 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60602, 312-263-0456.