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By Rebecca Renshaw<\/p>\nBy Rebecca Renshaw<\/p>\n
Greg Horrell of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had not been back to SIU since he graduated in 1991. It was only when the Carbondale in the \u201980s and \u201990s (the B.E.E.R. group) was established on Facebook that he reconnected with his alma mater.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all the old stories in the group about how much fun we all had that pulled me back in,\u201d Horrell said.<\/p>\n
During the 2019 SIU Day of Giving, members of the group made 1,100 donations totaling more than $50,000, enough to endow two Balancing Education, Experience and Reality scholarships. The group earned a trophy for having the most individual gifts made for a non-academic unit.<\/p>\n
Horrell made the trek from North Carolina to Carbondale last spring to participate in the trophy presentation. He took home a weekend full of memories, a Quatro\u2019s cup and a koozie from the SIU Alumni Association.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEvery time I pull in the garage and see that cup, it reminds me of the good times at SIU and makes me smile,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Last September, Horrell started dropping his change into the Quatro\u2019s cup for the B.E.E.R. Scholarship. Eventually, the cup overflowed, and he added two red solo cups to contain the six months\u2019 worth of coins.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter took the coins to the bank machine and texted me that it was a perfect coin dump at $187 dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cI started in 1987. I\u2019ve been asking myself, \u2018What are the odds that it would be $187 even?\u2019\u201d Horrell said.<\/p>\n
Fellow group member Jim Raffensperger recently challenged donors to add their graduation year onto any gift they make during this year\u2019s SIU Day of Giving, which is Wednesday, March 4.<\/p>\n
Horrell already planned to throw in an extra $100 to the $187 he saved in his Quatro\u2019s cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cJim made me want to add $.91 more, so count me in for $287.91,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Horrell has a new challenge for the rest of the group between now and the Day of Giving in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if just 40 percent of the group put their loose change in their Quatro\u2019s cups for the next year?\u00a0Could we raise $500,000 for B.E.E.R.?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That may sound like a lofty goal, but if the B.E.E.R. group has proven anything it\u2019s that its members\u2019 love for SIU, Carbondale\u2019s iconic pizza joints and giving back shouldn\u2019t be underestimated.<\/p>\n
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Support the Balancing Education, Experience and Reality scholarship on SIU Day of Giving March 4 at: https:\/\/siuday.siu.edu\/giving-day\/22291\/department\/22318<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rebecca Renshaw Greg Horrell of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had not been back to SIU since he graduated in 1991. It was only when the Carbondale in the \u201980s and \u201990s (the B.E.E.R. group) was established on Facebook that he reconnected with his alma mater. \u201cIt was all the old stories in the group … Continue reading Pizza & B.E.E.R.: Iconic duo spur Day of Giving donation<\/span>