Bookstore ornament sale to benefit student group
Every year, the University Bookstore—the University of Maine’s official bookstore—commissions the design of a UMaine ornament. Each edition is carefully crafted of the finest materials and depicts a university landmark or symbol.
However, the real beauty of the ornament, modeled this year after Stevens Hall, is how it benefits others. Through its annual commemorative ornament program, the bookstore provides the proceeds from ornament sales to a UMaine student organization that works to help others. This year’s selected beneficiary is Circle K International.
Circle K International is a collegiate service organization that is part of the Kiwanis family. Circle K International is the largest organization its our kind with over 13,000 members worldwide. They accomplish service projects and raise money for communities both locally and globally.
Recently at UMaine, Circle K International significant funds for pediatric cancer research, UNICEF, Camp Sunshine in Sebago, and the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute in Boston.
In the area communities, Circle K International holds food drives and does volunteer work at Manna Ministries in Bangor & Orono Commons.
Richard Young, UMaine’s director of Auxiliary Services, noted that student volunteer organizations like this that get to the heart of the ornament program, which began in 2003.
“The students in these organizations dedicate their energy and talent to making a difference,” Young says. “We at the University Bookstore are honored to recognize their important work through the ornament program. We are a student-focused organization, and this initiative is a special way that we can give back.”
The 2011 ornament, as well as the complete collection, is available at the University Bookstore, located on the lower level of Memorial Union on the University of Maine campus. Ornaments are also available through the University Bookstore website at www.bookstore.umaine.edu.
Previous beneficiary organizations have included Alternative Spring Break, Gamma Sigma Sigma and Alpha Phi Omega, Rotaract, Colleges Against Cancer, Central American Service Association, Engineers Without Borders & Habitat UMaine. Sales from previous years will still go to the organization of that year.
High-resolution images are available upon request. Please contact Tom Diaz, UMaine auxiliary services marketing coordinator, at (207) 581-4350.