Taylor Hutton
Staff Writer
Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity hosted their “Ice a Sig” philanthropy event at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 in front of the MCC.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a popular social media phenomenon, inspired the Alpha Sigma Phi fundraiser.
The chapter’s goal was to raise $250 for ALS research, with 100% of proceeds donated to the ALS Association (ALSA). At the end of the event, the chapter raised just over their goal donating a total of $257.
“I think that the most important thing was that our brothers were very active in approaching everyone on campus to bring attention to the event,” Senior Education major and President of Alpha Sigma Phi TC Ototivo said.
Ototivo said that what led to the event being successful was, “being knowledgeable enough to represent not only the event, but the philanthropy itself and being able to raise donations in a quick and simple manner.”
The Ice Bucket Challenge started as a fundraiser not associated with ALS. The challenge is simple, if you are challenged you have 24 hours to either donate $100 or pour a bucket of ice water on yourself and donate $10. Participants were originally asked to donate to a charity of their choice, until the involvement of one professional golfer.
According to TIME magazine, the link between ALS and The Ice Bucket Challenge started when golfer Chris Kennedy selected ALS – someone close to him suffers from the disease.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge quickly went viral on Facebook and Twitter. Many celebrities have even taken the challenge, as well as donating money to ALSA.
According to their website, as of Sept. 6 ALSA received $109.8 million in donations from the ice bucket challenge alone.
Alpha Sigma Phi took advantage of this unique opportunity to donate money to ALS research. A donation of $5 would get a bucket of ice water poured over a member of the donator’s choice.
“We got the idea from seeing all the videos on Facebook and Twitter,” Senior Communication major and Alpha Sigma Phi Vice President Steven Feldman said. “We wanted to see how much money we could raise on campus.”
To spread the word about their challenge the fraternity created a Facebook event and electronically invited over 200 students.
Alpha Sigma Phi set up a booth outside of the MCC and asked for donations from students that were passing by.
The fraternity is currently recruiting members as they actively work to receive their charter from their national organization to make their place at Cameron University permanent as a recognized chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi.
For more information on ALS or the Ice Bucket Challenge, visit ALSA.org.