Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Biological Engineering Student Organization is selling sweet potatoes and rice at its annual sale.
Mitchell Feigley, biological engineering junior and BESO treasurer, said the sale is the University’s longest-running fundraiser.
Feigley said the money earned from the sale allows members to attend Institute of Biological Engineering conferences each year.
James Hollier, biological engineering senior and BESO secretary, said the group held the sale Nov. 15 to Nov. 19 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The sale will continue today and Tuesday.
Hollier said the sale will also be held Wednesday but will close at 2 p.m.
The sale is set up on the corner of Highland Road and South Stadium Drive, next to the Parker Coliseum parking lot.
Hollier said the organization has seen about 150 to 200 people every day at the sale.
Feigley said the turnout is better than last year, which he attributes to the organization’s efforts to advertise the event. He said the organization’s officers have been working to better publicize the sale on news stations and fliers.
Feigley said the sale’s organizers wanted to target local residents because he thinks they buy more potatoes and rice than students do.
Louann Johnson, biological engineering sophomore and BESO member, said several organization members’ families have helped with the event.
“My family is buying six 20-pound bags of rice,” Johnson said. “They love it.”
Johnson said the rice smells like popcorn because it already has butter in it.
“It cooks like regular rice, but it smells so good,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the plant is made of a combination of Louisiana wild rice and white rice, which gives it a unique flavor.
Feigley said all the products the organization offers are made in Louisiana, right down to the decorative bags in which the rice is packaged.
“The bags are all made of Louisiana cotton,” Feigley said.
Feigley said he has found that customers particularly like the cloth bags because they make it easier to give the rice as holiday gifts.
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]