In one of the St. Louis University High community’s smaller yet still impactful fundraiser events last Thursday, Athletic Director Chris Muskopf and a team of grill masters flipped up some burgers and hot dogs with chips after school on the turnaround. The proceeds from the event went to Operation Food Search, an organization that collects food donations (mostly  non-perishable goods) and then distributes them to various organizations that can deliver them to those in need. 

Muskopf came into contact with them through their involvement with Channel Five for high school football games. This year SLUH was invited by Channel Five to participate in a high school competition for who could bring in the most canned food, and the barbecue was part of an effort by SLUH to collect more food than Seckman High School. Food items were sold for either one or two dollars, and were very popular.

“We collected right around $250,” said Muskopf. “As soon as we broke (the barbecue) down and took things away, I went and shopped for canned goods to bring back. Those were picked up Friday morning.”

The BBQ lasted from right after school until the end of the nearby SLUH soccer practice around 5:00, to give the athletes a chance to have a post-practice snack. All in all, the barbecue had a fairly decent turnout, with around 60 to 70 students showing up to grab a bite after school.

A major tricky part of the event was coordinating it to still take in good donations, but not sap donations that would otherwise go to the Drive for the Homeless, happening this week. 

“We didn’t want to diminish generosity (for the drive) based on all the effort that had gone into planning for the Drive for the Homeless and what that means for our community,” Muskopf said. “As a major event for the season, we didn’t want to launch a full scale, collect canned goods and support Operation Food Search (event) in a way that it then cut back on people’s ability to contribute to the drive.” 

Scheduling was also difficult because the matchup was set for Sunday, but the drive didn't start until Tuesday because Operation Food Search delivered the buckets to SLUH on Monday. In a regular season, SLUH would receive about two weeks notice to build, plan, and support the event, but as a playoff competition, things were much shorter notice. 

“That’s why we got creative with the barbecue and, with a few other things around, (we created something) that was ultimately pretty cool and says a lot about our community,” Muskopf said.

If SLUH chooses to do the barbecue again next year, one thing they’ll do differently is to allow more student participation in the coordination of the event. This would not only allow for more participation in setting it all up, but also hopefully increase the number of students who attend the barbecue.

“If we had had more preparation time we certainly would have gotten some of the students from the Tailgate Club connected and things like that,” Muskopf said. “I think if we’re a regular season choice for that next year, we will do it on a bigger scale with more student connection. Other than contributing either cash at the barbecue or canned goods, we didn’t have a lot of student connection and that’s something we would do differently under different circumstances.”