Imagine an NFL football team reaching out to a student organization at the University of Central Missouri.

Michael Waters, seasonal sales representative with the Kansas City Chiefs, reached out to the Office of Student Activities back in May about partnering with a student group to help the students fundraise for 2018.

The University of Central Missouri alternative spring break group, Breakers, didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity.

The Breakers are selling Chiefs tickets for games on Oct. 7, Oct. 21 and Nov. 11. The ticket sales will help fund the group’s upcoming spring break trip to build homes with Habitat for Humanity.

Emma McKay, vice president and fundraising chair for Breakers, said she thought this was a great idea.

“We’ve kind of done the same fundraisers every year for the past several years now, so I thought adding something new would be really cool to do,” McKay said.

McKay said this is a great opportunity for Breakers. She began communicating with Waters once the initial email was forwarded to her from Kristie Brinkley, advisor for Breakers and assistant director of Student Activities with Volunteer Services.

“I went ahead and got everything set up,” McKay said. “Lots of emails back and forth, lots of questions from other people asking for specific information, signing the important documents, and then we got the official email saying that we could start fundraising, so that was really cool.”

Breakers has worked with Habitat for Humanity to help build a house over spring break since 1996.

“Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing to people in need,” McKay said. “A common misconception is that they just give houses to people and they do not do that.”

However, there is a process that the homeowner has to go through, Brinkley said.

“A Habitat for Humanity homeowner does not pay for labor. They have to apply, they have to help work on the house, they also have to make a house payment after it’s built, but it’s a lot lower because your labor is all volunteer,” Brinkley said.

Since it’s volunteer, she said it is important that the group sends as many people as possible.

“This group raises an excess of $10,000 to fund their spring break trip of 25 to 30 students,” Brinkley said. “So any little bit is appreciated and helps.”

Brinkley said expenses cover transportation and food. She said Breakers also gives a big portion of the money back to Habitat for Humanity.

“Habitat uses that money to buy supplies,” she said. “They often use it to help find us housing while we stay there. We don’t pay for housing while we’re there – it’s included in the fee. Some of the places we stay will provide food for us, depending on if they can or can’t.”

Brinkley also said there is a fee for every build the group goes on.

“There’s a per-person affiliate fee, which is in excess of $150 per student. So multiply that times 30,” Brinkley said. “That’s a chunk of change.”

McKay said members only have to pay $40 for the trip, which is why fundraising is crucial to this group.

To get tickets for the games, visit the Chiefs website www.chiefs.com/ticketfundraiser/. Under ticket fundraiser, select the game you want to attend and at checkout, enter the code “BREAKERS.”

“The tickets come out to be exactly $33.50. Before the fees, they are $30 and that is significantly cheaper than what you’d be purchasing without our link,” McKay said. Breakers looked into pricing and without the link tickets are $45.

By purchasing tickets using the Breakers link people can save $15 and $10 out of the $30 goes directly to their fundraising efforts.

“So really, you’re paying Arrowhead Stadium $20 for the tickets and giving us $10. If you break it down like that, it’s a really great deal for everyone involved,” McKay said.

“We have put it on our Facebook page,” Brinkley said. “I sent it out to the university to classifieds. All the members are encouraged to send it out to friends and family, word of mouth.”

McKay said the fundraiser has been convenient for Breakers.

“We stumbled upon this without doing hardly any work for it,” McKay said. “It was very easy and very nice and that’s always good because we have more intense fundraisers. So having something like this, where it’s not much work on our end but it’s a big thing for the people that support us and in general.”

The work the students put in does not go unnoticed, Brinkley said.

“I’m very proud of this group to know these students utilize their spring break, which is like a free time. They use it to go on a trip to give back to others,” Brinkley said. “So the support of this organization from the university, from the community, has been tremendous.”

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