dizzygizzy 
Moderator
Posts: 1449
(2/12/07 10:09 am)
Reply
|
WSU students work for memory of Crocodile Hunter
WSU students work for memory of Crocodile Hunter
By Chris Hubbuch / Winona Daily News
Published - Monday, February 12, 2007
.
Since she was 8 years old, Lindsey Derby was a fan of Steve Irwin, the conservationist who gained fame with his “Crocodile Hunter” nature shows.
When she was 10, she drew a picture of herself with Irwin and another of her with Irwin’s wife, Terri, and sent them to him in Australia. To her surprise, the Irwins signed them and sent them back to her home.
Derby, a sophomore at Winona State University, was in class last fall when she heard that Irwin had died after a sting ray pierced his chest while he was underwater shooting a TV program.
“I knew I couldn’t rest until I did something to help the family,” Derby said.
So Derby, 20, teamed up with her friend Emily King, a senior from Milwaukee, and ordered more than 1,000 green rubber wristbands engraved with the words
“Passion/Enthusiasm” (a smaller children’s size features his catch phrases “Crocs Rule!” and “Crikey”). They found a Web hosting service and set up a Web site — www.memoryofsteveirwin.com — to sell the bracelets.
“I thought the wristbands would keep his memory alive,” Derby said.
“I thought it was a little crazy at first,” said King, who helped fund the initial investment.
Neither had any business or marketing experience — “It’s not as easy as I thought,” said Derby, a criminal justice major who hopes to be a game warden.
She would love to work at a zoo, but says she doesn’t have the background. King, 21, plans to work in health care.
Derby and King realize the family probably doesn’t need money n they’re mostly interested in showing support to a man they admired. They promise to donate all the proceeds from the $2 bracelets to the Australia Zoo that Irwin and his wife ran, but they haven’t set up a formal non-profit company.
“We have an Excel spreadsheet,” King said. “And a separate bank account.”
The pair has sold about 350 bracelets, but say they would be happy to have to order more if they run out.
So far, most of their bracelets were sold in Derby’s hometown, Dubuque, Iowa. But they have shipped wristbands to Irwin fans in states across the country.
www.winonadailynews.com/a...00lead.txt
Irwinites Unite !!!
|
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies