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E-tailer offers healthful alternative

When parents send store-bought care packages during exam season, they now have the option to swap Snickers bars for green tea and other health-conscious goodies with the new online care package company, Buddhaplanet.com.

The brainchild of Marga Odahowski, associate director of Student Health, the company aims to provide students and parents with alternatives to the standard care package fare by paying close attention to mental and physical health.

Each package, ranging in price from $35 to $78, is filled with spirited bits and pieces to enhance the mind, body and spirit and arrives in a reusable canvas bag. The "Karma Cram Exam" ($38) includes rosemary salve for concentration and clarity, yellow notebook paper to help with memory and antioxidant-rich green tea, a brain food.

On the higher end of the price range, the Buddha Dreams Bag ($78) contains a pillow case, dream journal, chamomile tea, silk eye bag and aromatherapy items. And the Ommm Girl Bag ($35) supports the well being and "true beauty" of a woman's individuality. It includes a journal, bookmark and items that provide aromatherapy. Also included in the care packages is a "wisdom card that gives tips on learning, like 'Breathe deeply' and 'Ask many questions,'" Odahowski said.

"I thought of the idea about two years ago. I realized that a lot of students really like getting care packages but are disappointed by what they get, like Oreos and M&Ms," she said. "The last thing students need, especially during exam week, is more sugar, so I thought of packages to enhance student's well-being."

The outlook for Buddhaplanet.com is good, but the business is up against heavy competition, such as Carepackages.com, a big company out of Washington, D.C. Carepackages.com offers a wide range of packages, such as the "Student Survival Package," which includes a 15-minute phone card, 10 postage stamps, "Grandma's" cookies, Kleenex, Chicken noodle soup, Ramen noodles, gum and other items. Prices range from about $8 for the most basic package to about $45 for larger ones.

For Buddhaplanet.com, which offers more expensive packages on the lower end of the price range, Odahowski said her philosophy is, "It's a lot more quality for a little more money."

Buddhaplanet.com will compete more directly and fiercely with University Dining Services, which also offers care packages. Dining Services offers more conventional care package items, such as cakes, fruit baskets, pizzas and the Spring Snack Attack with lollipops, chocolate chip cookies, jelly beans, gum and a balloon. The packages range in price from $8 to $40.

Just three months off the ground, Buddhaplanet has no staff yet, but Odahowski works with three undergraduate student interns. Fourth-year intern Carola Garay-Ortega said this is an asset to Odahoski's business judgement because she knows her customer base.

"The products will not only provide care packages like those offered by the University, but different [products], not just a basket of fruit. [Odahowski's] really big on well-being," Garay-Ortega said.

To spread the word about Buddhaplanet.com, the team has a Web site, flyers and mailings, and it advertised on the Corner during Parents' Weekend three weeks ago. In terms of ordering packages, the team has an e-commerce site, or customers may mail order the packages.

"Right now I'm basically at U.Va., but I definitely want to market it to other colleges," Odahowski said.

The business is small in size and customers, but this does not discourage Odahowski. "In my eyes, it's very successful. It's just the timing in which it will take off," she said. The customer base will be expanded for the business in the near future, Odahowski predicted. "We will be marketing [the care packages] to other schools, such as private schools," she said.

"I would like to see Buddha [Planet] do well at U.Va. and in the state," Garay-Ortega said. "If someone has a unique product, [consumers] will grab on to it"

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