Students capitalize off flu, sell T-shirts for charity

Tuesday's announcement of swine flu cases at the university had many students worried, but some took the opportunity to get in touch with their creative sides.

Junior Marc Paulo Guzman and freshman Dan Schroeder started a Facebook page titled "Swine 09' @ UD" on Wednesday night. The goal of the Facebook page is to sell T-shirts inspired by the swine flu at the university and to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Newark.

"When I was daydreaming in class about the whole idea of swine flu, I wanted to put a positive spin on all of the chaos," Guzman said. "A T-shirt would be a good way to remember all of this after it is all said and done."

Guzman brought up the idea to Schroeder at around 8 that evening. The Facebook page was set up within the hour, Schroeder said.

Guzman and Schroeder were hoping to have 100 people in the group by the end of the night. However, when they went to sleep at around 2 a.m. there were already 500 people in the group, they said.

With the help of their friend sophomore Aaron Fisher, Guzman and Schroeder devised a slogan for the T-shirts, which are sold through order forms on the Facebook page.

According to Schroeder, the front of the T-shirt reads, "Swine '09" and the back, "I'm Feelin' Swine." The shirts can be ordered in light pink or Carolina blue and are printed by Unique Impressions on Main Street.

Guzman said he and Schroeder decided to donate proceeds from the "Swine '09" T-shirts to the Boys & Girls Club in Newark because they wanted the money to benefit the community.

"We wanted to know exactly where the money is going, and we wanted to be able to see the effects," he said.

After seeing how much attention the T-shirts have gained, they are charging $10 per shirt in order to make enough of a profit to donate.

As of Thursday evening, Guzman and Schroeder had already received more than 250 orders through Facebook inbox and e-mail messages.

If they receive permission from the university to sell the T-shirts on campus, Guzman said they would like to sell them at Trabant University Center. If not, they plan to sell them on Main Street in front of Dunkin' Donuts or Panera Bread, he said.

Schroeder said the possibility of expanding the swine flu-inspired apparel exists if it continues gaining popularity.

"If it keeps spreading I was thinking about mugs or something along those lines - something else that college students could use," he said.

By Thursday night, the Facebook group had more than 1,800 members and Schroeder and Guzman had heard other students talking about it throughout the day at school.

"Walking to class I would hear random people talk about how they definitely wanted a T-shirt and they wanted to donate even more money to the cause," Guzman said. "That's when I knew we needed to sit down and make it happen."

Sophomore Sara Angel said she thinks the T-shirts are a great idea.

"I'm friends with Marc so it came up on my News Feed, and I thought the title was hilarious so I had to check it out. I sent it to my friends and I have already ordered a T-shirt," Angel said. "I think that a lot of college students respond well to T-shirts and charity."

As of Monday night, 1,407 T-shirts had been sold, and Guzman and Schroeder had collected $4,000 in Trabant. The Facebook group had nearly 3,000 members.

Guzman and Schroeder are not the only students trying to capitalize on swine flu at the university, however.

Juniors Chris Wiggins and Kyle Connelly and senior Chris Gordon also started producing T-shirts to raise money for charity. Their T-shirts read, "I survived Swine '09: Dodgin' the Flu Better Than You!"

Wiggins, Connelly and Gordon have a screen-printing machine in their basement that they use often to create clothes for their fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, and friends. They are selling the T-shirts for $10, or $5 if people bring their own shirts, Gordon said. So far, they have sold approximately 20 T-shirts and will continue to sell them if there is demand.

Money from the T-shirts is going to one of their fraternity brothers, sophomore Ryan Curran, who is participating in Journey of Hope, a cross-country trek sponsored by Push America that was founded by Pi Kappa Phi. To participate in the event, Curran had to raise $5,000. Wiggins is hoping the proceeds from the T-shirts will help Curran reach his goal.

While both groups of T-shirts have been receiving an overwhelming response from the student community, Guzman and Schroeder do not want T-shirt making efforts to stop at the university.

"I hope this goes to other colleges and spreads nationally," Guzman said. "It is for a good cause, and I want to make the chaos and craze a more positive situation."