There are few things that are better than a free donut in the eyes of the broke, stressed and hungry college student, though free donuts as well as dogs may be one of them.

The Allegheny College community got a chance to experience this combination on Oct. 4 in Pelletier Library. Allegheny Donuts collaborated with the Counseling & Personal Development Center to provide free donuts and therapy dogs in the library for two hours, and it is not the only event that they have planned this semester.

“The idea was, I mean pretty simple, it’s just people like dogs, people like donuts,” Samuel Goodwin, ’25, said.

Goodwin helped to put together the event as the new events committee coordinator of Allegheny Donuts.

Unlike in the past, this semester Allegheny Donuts is more of an official organization. In the past it was just club founder — and now president — Kyle Stallard, ’22, walking around, occasionally with assistance, handing out donuts. While still not an ASG-recognized club, the organization is working in that direction. With the creation of a board, a constitution for the club being written, and an increased presence on campus, the push to become a more official part of the college community is a big goal this semester for club members. The core mission of improving moods and spreading happiness around campus is still the focus of the club and what drew in so many new members this year.

“We decided collectively, at the beginning of the semester that we were perfectly fine without being a real club,” Stallard said. “Because we were just having fun and doing us and everyone seemed okay without like the official recognition. (But), navigating the paperwork side of things and permission and whatnot, it’s come to the point where like, we have to be (an official) club and that’s fine.”

The club has also begun to expand its reach, teaming up and collaborating with various organizations on campus such as the CPDC, the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Social Justice, All Gender Equity Society, and Young Born Leaders. There are more events in the works for the future, both in collaboration with other organizations and independently.

Stallard said that while the overall goal of Allegheny Donuts has stayed the same, the expansion allows for the organization to help more outside the campus community and spread joy elsewhere. This was a really important component of the expansion to Stallard.

“I mean the driving motivation has stayed the same, you know, spread kindness and meet people and just get to know people and make people happy,” Stallard said. “That’s the driving force behind all this. It’s definitely expanded to ‘How can I help others outside of campus?’ That was my main thing (last year), is like I was really focused on people on campus but, I mean, the more I can help, the better.”

According to Charlotte Allen, ’25, social media manager of the club, this semester the club began looking for events happening on campus that were donut-friendly, like the therapy dog event sponsored by CPDC.

“We were like wow, this would be like a really fun thing because I mean, who doesn’t love dogs and who doesn’t love donuts like it’ll be a great way to like de-stress,” Allen said. “And for National Coming Out Day, we got a suggestion from someone to come hand out donuts and we were like, ‘yeah that’s an awesome event to bring donuts to, let’s go show our support.’”

Even though the club is not yet recognized by ASG, the members of the club are more focused on continuing with their goal of spreading joy and kindness on campus as well as spreading the word. While the club does not yet have consistent meetings it does plan on setting them, and asks all those interested in the club — whether it be for a free donut or to learn more about the club — to keep an eye on the Instagram page, @alleghenydonuts.