From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu Sep 19 2002 - 11:35:23 EDT
September 19, 2002 == FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Students from a Calvin College residence hall started classes on September 9.
Just a week later they worked a camping trip into their daily schedule of class,
homework, chapel, meals and more. But this is no ordinary camping trip.
The site is less than a mile from campus, at the corner of the East Beltline
and 28th Street, one of the busiest intersections in Grand Rapids. It's home to
a new Krispy Kreme donut shop, slated to open September 24. And the Calvin
students plan to camp in front of the store for a week with the goal being to
win a year's supply of free donuts (and maybe more).
It all started during orientation week at Calvin when representatives from
Krispy Kreme gave out free donuts at a movie night on campus. They also
announced that the first 12 people into the store on opening day would receive
free donuts for a year.
Three resident assistants in Boer Hall started scheming about how to win the
prize. When all was said and done RAs Jeff Konczal of Powell, Ohio, Matt DeKam
of Leota, Minn., and Dave Boven of Elmhurst, Ill., had a plan that now includes
three tents, a motor home and a schedule that sees at least two Calvin students
on the Krispy Kreme premises at all times.
By the time Krispy Kreme opens its doors for the first time on Tuesday,
September 24, members of Boer Hall will have been there for a week, breaking the
previous Krispy Kreme campout record of four days, set at a recent store-opening
in Albuquerque. In addition to donuts, those campers were also given a
Krispy-Kreme-themed Harley-Davidson, so big things may be in store for the Boer
campers as well.
The owners of the franchise, who are also opening several other Krispy Kremes
in West Michigan, have been very friendly and helpful, say the Boer RAs.
They've let the campers use the bathrooms and even brought out boxes of donuts
for them.
The effort has been great for dorm unity, says Konzcal. "Without everyone's
participation, it wouldn't work," he says. "After we were on the news, everyone
was like: there's no way we're going to lose."
And whatever the outcome the students are having fun. Says Konzcal: "We'll
never forget this."
Contact Konzcal at 954-4711 or jkoncz05@calvin.edu or De Kam at 954-4735 or
mjd2@calvin.edu or Boven at 954-4753 or dboven02@calvin.edu
~with reporting by media relations student writer Abe Huyser-Honig
-end-
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