Instead of music, mattresses filled the North Band Room from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29 for the second annual Mattress Sale fundraiser. This year, the funds raised are going towards the band program to help pay for upcoming trips, and donations can be made towards new mattresses for Houses Into Homes, a non-profit organization based in Coralville that provides gently used furniture to those who need it.
Custom Fundraising Solutions is a non-governmental organization founded in 2005 to fundraise for schools, according to their website. They created “The Mattress Fundraiser” and developed many more fundraisers to raise more than $60 million for 3,000+ schools and groups in the U.S. cumulatively. CFS doesn’t charge the group they’re fundraising for, handles or provides all marketing, staff, set-up, delivery and selling.
At West, they offered and displayed more than 30 different styles of beds in all sizes for customers to try, like Purple, Helix and Therapedic, as well as frames, pillows, pillowcases, sheets and adjustable power bases. Mattresses were available with full warranties on brand names and pricing below retail. Delivery within the U.S. and the removal of old mattresses came free.
View this post on Instagram
They will find out how much was raised in the coming week. Money spent on mattresses will go towards the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Collective’s trip to Chicago on Feb. 28, 2025 and the marching band DisneyWorld trip in spring 2026.
The jazz program is bringing back a Chicago trip after 6 years when it was canceled because the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The top two jazz bands will go to the Coe Jazz Summit at Coe College on Friday, Feb. 28 then leave immediately from the festival for Chicago. After arriving that evening and exploring the city, namely a jazz club, the bands will stay one night and perform in the Jazz in the Meadows festival the next day, Saturday, Mar. 1, before heading home.
Each student must pay about $400 pay for bussing, hotels, dinner, a concert and two competitions. The funds raised in the mattress sale and the upcoming fruit sale will help lessen that cost and help more students go.
Although CFS provided staffing, some band students volunteered to wear an infamous mattress costume and hold signs on Melrose Ave. to promote the event to passersby.
Their motivation for volunteering ranged from silver cord hours to peer pressure to the desire wear mattress costumes. Student volunteer Pushyami Vijay Kumar ’27 said, “Mattress costumes look extremely fun. That was probably the main reason.”
The student volunteers included Gwen Smith ’26, Anna Greenlee ’26, Clara Jacobson ’28, Melissa Marron ’27, Pushyami Vijay Kumar ’27, Iris Vasi ’28, Kazuhiko Goto ’28, Ashley Niemiec ’25, Mazza Altom ’28, Shamyra Forrest ’28, Derick Doresca ’26, Audrey Small ’28, Max Somerville ’28, Ashleigh Topp ’27, Davis Day ’28 and Avi Jahangir ’27.
