Furthering future affordability with MSU Bookstore Gala

The MSU Bookstore held a fundraising gala in the SUB on Saturday, March 2. The event aimed to raise money to further the Bookstore’s mission of lowering its course material costs.

Attendees, dressed anywhere from modern black-tie to 1920s flapper attire chatted, drank and practiced their golf swing during cocktail hour; they also had the opportunity to bid on silent auction items. 

The auction prizes included a 26-quart ORCA Roto-molded cooler with five 12 packs of Pepsi and five packs of Mountain Dew and a $125 gift card to Blacksmith Italian along with a bottle of Saint-Emilion Grand Cru and another of Chateau Buenavista Carneros Chardonnay, among others. Servers clad in black floated throughout the room, offering hors d'oeuvres to attendees as the DJ played lounge renditions of songs like Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop.”

“This is our foundational year,” MSU Bookstore CEO Chad Schreier said. “Operating as a 501c3, we are the only nonprofit bookstore in the state.” The Bookstore maintains and lowers its prices by rebating discounts of around 10%. This has become more difficult in recent years, so they are beginning to host events like the gala, according to Schreier.

Bookstore Chief of Staff Melissa Faber, who participated in the Faber Blue&Gold Gala for athletic scholarships, prompted the Bookstore to host their own gala.

“The reality is we should be doing more. Let’s reach out to those who can, to see if they can help support us so we can work to continue to lower the cost of education here at MSU,” Schreier said.

“I believe in our mission of making it so students don’t have to sell their souls to afford books for school,” Bookstore Board Vice Chair Marc Giullian said. 

The event’s emcee and K-SKY Country host Dave Wooten made a few announcements, joking that he thought it was going to be a rodeo event. He then introduced Pastor Mike Frymier to give a dinner blessing. 

After dinner, the silent auction closed and student speakers shared their support of the Bookstore’s mission.

“The Bookstore means so much to me because their goal is to lower prices for student resources,” Bookstore Marketing Intern Will Brazda said. He went on to reference his difficulty entering school due in part to the cost of books, and how the Bookstore’s partnership with RedShelf made course materials much easier to afford.

According to Schreier, RedShelf has been a bookstore partner since 2016 and is pivotal in the bookstore’s online resource management and distribution.

Bookstore Student Social Media Intern and ASMSU Vice President Melissa Ramirez spoke on the involvement opportunities she had because of the Bookstore. “I’m passionate about opening as many doors as possible for the students that will come after me,” she said.

The final event of the evening was the live auction. Auctioneer Rusty Trzpuc and his two children ran the auction. A tailgate set, golf package and Seattle baseball and football tickets with airfare and hotel rooms included were auctioned off, raising $2,600 independent of both the silent auction and donations. Trzpuc himself won the Seahawks tickets, having outbid the crowd to donate to watch the Seahawks play at Lumen Stadium, and to help future students afford their course materials.

“Where I would like to see us is where, through fundraising efforts and product sales, we’re able to offer our textbooks to students at or below the cost to the bookstore,” Schreier said. “It’s a really aggressive goal, but I think it’s worth it.”