OSU’s Beta Alpha Psi chapter helps youth donate funds to Stillwater’s Mission of Hope

Friday, March 4, 2016

The Oklahoma State University Beta Alpha Psi chapter teamed up with employees from Grant Thornton to teach children about accounting and contributing to their community through a lemonade stand on the Stillwater campus.

Several members of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP), an accounting student organization in the Spears School of Business and children (age ranges four to 11) from the Oklahoma State Family Resource Center (FRC) recently hosted a lemonade stand, raising $300 for Mission of Hope in Stillwater.

The OSU students taught the children how to count and exchange money and interact with customers while selling lemonade and baked goods to pedestrians on the Stillwater campus.

“It was the kids from the FRC’s idea,” said Monika Turek, instructor in OSU’s School of Accounting and advisor for the BAP Chapter. “We just helped them implement it.”

The BAP students supplied the baked goods and other supplies for the sale were provided by Grant Thornton, an accounting firm based in Tulsa.

The sale generated $150 profit. The funds were then matched by Beta Alpha Psi and donated to an organization of the FRC children’s choice. “They chose Mission of Hope because they said wanted to give back to these people,” said Turek.

Turek, Mumbe Kithakye, the coordinator of Student Housing at the FCR, and a group of nine youth recently delivered the check and toured the Mission of Hope facilities. “This project was a lot of fun but the most important part is that the OSU students taught them [FRC youth] to give back to their community,” said Turek.

The Family Resource Center offers assistance to families and campus residents as they get settled on campus in the Stillwater area.

“Beta Alpha Psi is not just an organization that helps students find jobs after they graduate, it is also meant to be a service organization and an organization that helps students learn to serve,” said Turek.

The OSU Beta Alpa Psi chapter was recently recognized internationally as a superior chapter for excelling in academics, professionalism and community leadership.

The group has been recognized for their community service including providing gifts for 75 children in the Stillwater area last December, adopting the FRC angle tree, providing Christmas stockings for youth, hosting a Halloween Truck-or-Treat party, launching a backpack school supplies program, and raising more than $4,000 to help the Family Resource Center build a playground.

As Stillwater’s only homeless shelter, the Mission of Hope provides vital emergency shelter to people who need a safe place to stay and a hot meal.

For more information about Mission of Hope, visit stillwatermoh.org or call (405) 332-5521.

For more information about Beta Alpha Psi’s fundraising activities, contact Monika Turek at 405-744-5118 or mailto:monika.turek@okstate.edu.