Syracuse Say Yes to Education has chosen the Syracuse University men’s basketball game against Louisville at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 3, to be the second annual Say Yes Day in the Carrier Dome.

Say Yes Day is designed to give the Say Yes organization the opportunity to thank its corporate partners who have supported the Say Yes program, while also encouraging other companies and businesses to donate as well, said Susan Dutch, director of marketing and communications for Syracuse Say Yes to Education.

Dutch said she anticipates this year’s event to be just as exciting as last year’s despite a few changes.

‘It’s going to be a little different. We won’t be putting T-shirts in every single student seat and no more cards on the seats,’ she said. ‘This year nothing is going to be a fundraiser. There will just be activities to promote Say Yes.’

Last year’s Say Yes Day took place on Jan. 22, 2011, during the Syracuse-Villanova men’s basketball game. With almost 34,000 fans present at the game, Say Yes was able to raise more than $250,000 in texted donations. However, this year’s event will be on a smaller scale, as it won’t feature the same text-to-donate option, Dutch said.

‘That was hard to manage last year, so we decided to cut that out. Instead, we’re just recognizing those partner corporations and trying to encourage other business leaders to do the same and follow in their lead,’ Dutch said.

Instead of encouraging game attendants to make donations via text, Say Yes is now hoping to drive donations through its website, www.sayyessyracuse.org, Dutch said.

Additionally, SRC board made a matching fund donation of $5 million last year, which Say Yes hopes to put toward Say Yes Scholars with the help of student organizations and the continued support of corporations and business owners, Dutch said.

Say Yes Scholars are students who have been able to attend any Say Yes-affiliated college on full-paid tuition scholarships. Say Yes-affiliated colleges include all State University of New York colleges, City University of New York community colleges and more than 20 participating private colleges, among others, according to the Syracuse Say Yes website.

From 2009-10, Say Yes has been able to award $2.5 million in scholarships to Syracuse City School District graduates. Current fundraising efforts will go solely to raising money to fund the program’s scholarship endowment, Dutch said.

‘We are trying to raise awareness about the money we need to have the scholarships available for generations to come. Once we hit our endowment we will be able to start raising money for other things, but right now, we are just focusing on raising money for that endowment,’ Dutch said.

Raising money, however, is not the sole purpose of the organization, Dutch said.

‘It’s not all about giving dollars, it’s about getting involved with Say Yes, participating in internships or volunteering,’ Dutch said. ‘We would love for students to be more involved as volunteers through either tutoring, volunteering in the office or working as summer enrichment specialists, which are paid camp counselors that lead enrichment activities during the summer.’ 

To encourage students to become involved, Say Yes Day will kick off with a pregame reception in the Life Sciences Complex atrium to honor the presidents of the different Say Yes partner colleges, all Say Yes donors and Say Yes Scholars, Dutch said. 

There will also be a presentation during halftime that will bring some of the larger donors onto the floor. Expected guests include Say Yes founder George Weiss, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, Syracuse City School District Superintendent Sharon Contreras and SU Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina, Dutch said.

To show their support for the Say Yes foundation, Dome staff and cheerleaders will be wearing green Say Yes shirts. SU cheerleaders will also lead the crowd in a Say Yes cheer and hold up Say Yes signs at halftime. Thirty 60-second video spots featuring Say Yes Scholars will also be played on the jumbo screen, Dutch said.

Dutch said she is looking forward to this year’s event.

Said Dutch: ‘There will be a lot of action, a lot of excitement and hopefully a lot of awareness to not only thank our partners, but to show the community that we’re here, we have a lot of commitment and we’re here to stay.’

kfluttma@syr.edu 

Published on February 8, 2012 at 12:00 pm