Those green "Holla Back" T-shirts you may see students wearing around campus are part of the Thanksgiving in February event held by The Notre Dame Annual Fund and Student Development Committee.
The two-day event, which took place Monday and Tuesday, was created in order to have students write personal thank-you notes to alumni who have donated to Notre Dame this year.
All Notre Dame students were encouraged to go to the Sorin Room in the LaFortune Student Center and write the letters.
An Annual Fund and Student Development Center flier said donations made by University alumni "... have supported our dorms, clubs, academic programs, building maintenance and repairs, campus-wide electricity and heating, financial aid packages, and much more."
Posters placed throughout the residence halls and in LaFortune to encourage students to participate in the two-day event read, "Holla Back. Tuition covers less than 50 percent of the cost of your education. Alumni make it possible. Say thanks."
The goal of the program was to raise awareness regarding the importance of alumni support of the University by having students write a short handwritten thank-you note, organizers said.
"It takes only five minutes to say thank you," Emma Klosterman, who works for The Student Development Committee, a branch of The Annual Fund, said. "As students who are part of the Student Development Committee, it is our job to help with student-alumni relations."
The Thanksgiving in February event is part of the Spirit of Notre Dame Campaign, which is the largest fundraising operation in the history of Catholic education.
"We basically want to continue to help students who need monetary assistance," Klosterman said. "And we know that it takes a lot of money to help them out. The alumni of Notre Dame make that possible, and so we really need to thank them for everything they have done. They make Notre Dame possible for so many students."
The event also provided pizza and soda for students who came to write a note.
The Annual Fund plans on holding the event again next year due to its success and has planned on expanding the dates and times of the events to accommodate a larger response.
This is the event's second year.
