A group of students tailgate during every home football game and collect money in exchange for beer and food.That may sound like any other tailgate on campus, but instead of going toward food and booze, these students give all their money to charity.The Package is a tailgate that raises money for the St. Tammany Memorial Cancer Fund. A group of friends created the tailgate two years ago, and it has raised $25,000 for cancer research since. Sponsors such as WHL Architecture, Motiva and Dixieland Forest Corporate donate money to The Package to cover the costs of beer, food and other necessities.”I’d be out there anyway doing the exact same thing that I’m doing now,” said Kevin Chenier, environmental engineering senior and a founder of The Package. “Except now I have a good reason.”Despite the honorable reputation the group has received, the tailgating group has a risk of shutting down. Most who created The Package are graduating in May.”We don’t want it to go down,” said Justin Greenleaf, architecture senior and a founder of the group. “But we also don’t want something under our name to go bad. So finding the right person [to take over] is tough because we do so much work.”As an official non-profit organization, The Package requires quite a bit of responsibility.”We were approved by the IRS,” Greenleaf said. “The Package has a checking account. We are an official business.”Because the money collected at the tailgate is quickly exchanged for a $10 wristband, cash floats around.”But the moment you miss a dollar, the IRS will shut you down,” Greenleaf said. He knows all too well the consequences. The Internal Revenue Service rejected the group shortly after its creation.The students wake up at 7 a.m. on home game days and set up tents, ice kegs and bring food for the tailgate on the corner of Nicholson Drive and Nicholson Extension.”I was originally against someone taking it over,” Greenleaf said. “I don’t have enough faith in anyone to do it.”But Greenleaf quickly realized tailgating for a good cause must continue. The foundation they donate to would take a huge hit.”Every $1,000 we raise goes to someone with cancer who wants to go to college,” Greenleaf said. “It’s a scholarship.”Chenier said he met a girl that came to the tailgate who was one of the recipients of the scholarship.”They would lose a significant amount of scholarships,” Chenier said. “Obviously, 25 would be lost.”The question remains of who will take the reins after May.”A guy who has been with us from the beginning is considering taking over,” Greenleaf said.Justin Miramom, business junior, has been offered the chance to assume the huge responsibility.”The only reservation I have is if I can balance this with school,” Miramom said.The guys usually spend about 10 hours a week preparing for the tailgate.”There is a lot of stuff you have to do,” Miramom said. “I can do it if I have reliable people, and so far I have a few good men.”While The Package will continue tailgating for the rest of the season, fall 2009 is not set in stone.”I would hate to see it end,” Greenleaf said. “But Justin is very reliable. If anyone can do it, it’s him.”Greenleaf said the impact the group makes can be quickly brought to the surface.”I realize how good of a cause it is when a total stranger walks up to us and hands us 50 dollars,” Greenleaf said. “When we try to give them wristbands, they say, ‘Keep it, my father died of cancer.’ That’s when we realize how much respect we get.”- – – -Contact Ashley Norsworthy at [email protected]