Since its creation in 2003, Battle of the Valleys has been about organizations at Grand Valley State University working together to raise money for charity and beat the efforts of Saginaw Valley State University.

For the second year since the Laker Traditions team took over Battle of the Valleys, Student Senate has worked with the Laker Traditions team selling pre-sale T-shirts the week before to ensure maximum donations can be made during the competition week of Nov. 9 to Nov. 15.

During the week leading up to Battle of the Valleys, each member of Student Senate will be required to volunteer one hour for promotions and sales.

“Since the Laker Traditions team has taken over, the senate still wants to keep a close relationship to the events,” said Emma Moulton, executive vice president for Student Senate. “By having our senators help just one hour, it makes a huge difference for the coordinators not having to worry about finding so many volunteers. We are happy to help raise money and hopefully beat SVSU.”

The Battle of the Valleys rulebook states that anyone who is affiliated with the event can only work during the actual week of the event to raise money. In other words, the Laker Traditions team cannot do anything outside of the actual week of Battle of the Valleys. The rulebook also states that the money that can be counted toward the Battle of the Valleys total can only be collected during the week of, not before.

“Senate can help us out and pre-sale the T-shirts, because they are a completely different organization than Laker Traditions,” said Bethan Angel, coordinator of Battle of the Valleys for the Laker Traditions team. “They just give us the money during the week.”

The Battle of the Valleys Children’s Fund receives money from community donations. All the donations will go into this non-profit fund, and throughout the year, charities can apply for a mini-grant that can be used to fund programs, projects or operational costs for the organization.

“We have some events during the week, and the money will go straight toward the Battle of the Valleys,” Angel said. “Student Senate will hold onto their money until the week of. We also have some Greek life doing some fundraisers before the week, and they are going to donate during the week as well.”

This year, GVSU will have an a capella competition, GV’s Got Talent, a puppy chow sale, a doughnut sale, a scavenger hunt and a silent box auction. The organizers also hope to put together a competition among all the organizations, as well as doing lots of advertising, in addition to the T-shirt sales.