Marshall University’s Be Herd Communications hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner April 8 to raise funds for Guyandotte Elementary School’s after school program.

Director for Be Herd Communications, Mikaela Keener, said this event was part of a semester-long campaign that was created for River Valley Child Development Services.

“The murder mystery was decided in the fall with the PR writing class and we’re just holding out this campaign for them and we chose the murder mystery because we wanted something different, a different fundraiser for the community,” Keener said. “We wanted something that was interactive and get people involved in the fundraiser and it uses critical thinking skills that the children in the program also use and learn.”

Assistant Director for Be Herd Communications, Mercedez Speight, said some of the people who decided to get involved with the cause aside from it being part of their capstone class, was due to their history.

“A lot of us were involved with after school programs,” Speight said. “A lot of us were involved with camps for the needy, so when you go to visit the kids it kind of hits close to home, especially for the few of us that were involved with it. So, I think for those of us who were involved, just being involved with this cause, it means so much.”

Keener said each year the class chooses a non-profit for which to raise funds. Professor of the course, Terry Hapney, chose River Valley Child Development Services, which then chose a program it needed assistance with.

“They chose the Guyandotte Elementary after school program because this is the first year for the program and it takes $20,000 for them to put on the program for each year and they received an anonymous grant this year,” Keener said. “And so we are just helping them in their efforts to raise funds so that they can continue the program for next year.”

Speight said her favorite part about working with the group is working with the kids in the program.

“I think that specifically when we’ve just had days that have just been terrible or days where we couldn’t see the light with our own campaign,” Speight said. “Just walking into their after school program and hearing about their talent show or hearing about a new rock that they discovered that’s been around for thousands of years, but you know they discovered it, but just listening to the kids, oh my goodness.”

Be Herd’s event April 8 helped raise $1,426 for the after school program.

Matthew Groves can be contacted at [email protected].