Chi Omega wins Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity contest
Gift lists in hand, more than 50 sorority women were ready to shop Wednesday night.
But it wasn’t for their various organizations’ signature Lilly Pulitzer print or a Vineyard Vines bag; this time, they were shopping for charity. Teams from all 11 Panhellenic sororities overran Columbiana’s Toys R Us to buy presents for students from a local elementary school in support of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity’s holiday-themed philanthropy event, Shop Til You Drop. After the shopping frenzy was finished and each group’s haul was judged, Chi Omega sorority’s team came out on top, winning a free dinner at Pike’s off-campus house.
Shop Til You Drop was one of the key events of the fraternity’s first-ever Pike Presents Week, a week dedicated to providing presents for the students of Carver Lyon Elementary School.
“The main goal of the week is to get every kid in the school a gift,” said philanthropy chairman and second-year finance student Ben Romski. “If we don’t accomplish this, then we haven’t done our job.”
At Toys R Us, the women were given 20 minutes, a $200 budget and an age and gender group for which to buy toys. Each four-person team was instructed to buy between 10 and 20 toys.
“We had the 9 to 11 (year old) boys’ age group, so we bought a bunch of lacrosse sticks, footballs and basketballs,” said third-year broadcast journalism major and Kappa Kappa Gamma member Katy Solt. “The whole ‘race the clock’ aspect was the most exciting part.”
Each team’s contributions will be judged by USC football players Devin Taylor, Byron Jerideau and Reilly Madden on toy variety, holiday spirit and keeping with their age group.
Other events for Pike Presents Week include a present wrapping for all of the gifts collected, a tacky Christmas sweater party and a benefit concert Thursday evening at Five Points Pub starring country artist Bryson Jennings.
“All this stuff has been planned out for a little over a month now, and this is why I am so confident that the week will not only turn out amazing, but fun for everyone else as well,” Romski said.
T-shirts to promote the events that can be purchased through the Pike Presents Week Facebook page for the rest of the week. The sorority who sells the most T-shirts and donates the most toys to Pike’s toy drive will receive an all-expenses-paid mixer with Pike next semester. As of Wednesday night, Alpha Gamma Delta sorority was in the lead with 41 shirts sold, and the final count will be announced today.
But the real reward, Romski said, will be delivering the presents to the kids on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
“To me, there is no greater feeling than putting a smile on someone’s face,” he said. “Needless to say, being able to make 350 kids smile and giddy with the excitement of opening presents will be the best present I could ever get.”