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Fraternity endures two nights outside |
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By: Erin Birmingham - Editor-In-Chief
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Thursday, December 07, 2006 |
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Pike members slept in boxes to raise money for local food bank
During the morning hours of Wednesday, November 29th the 50 active members of Pi Kappa Alpha, better known as Pike, set up their cardboard box homes on the upper and lower levels of the McCaffrey Center. Here they stayed until the morning of Friday, December 1st. They spent two freezing nights in their boxes, with temperatures getting as low as 29 degrees Thursday night. Their goal? To end hunger.
Since receiving their charter here at Pacific in 1996, Pike has put on this event, dubbed A Hit of Reality, every year. This was its tenth run, and one of its most successful. A Hit of Reality raised around $8,000 for the Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties. Festival of Lights Sunday, December 10 6:30 p.m. Morris Chapel
The Second Harvest Food Bank “is committed to providing an efficient, cost effective centralized system for collecting and distributing food that reduces waste and alleviates hunger in our valley. We seek to provide life sustaining meals to those in need and to silence the pain that hunger brings.”
The $8,000 raised will not go directly towards buying more food but rather towards the transportation of the food.
Eric Hartman, a Pacific senior and member of Pike, said, “Their biggest problem is transporting the food. They get a lot of food donations but little monetary gifts. For every $1 dollar we raise it translates into $25 dollars worth of food that can get to those who need it. That’s a big effect.”
They raised the money through two main techniques, the first being letter writing. They sent letters to local businesses in the San Joaquin and Stanislaus county areas. They sent out about 2,000 letters. In response, they received thousands of dollars worth of donations that went directly to the Food Bank. Merrill Lynch, one of the world’s leading financial management and advisory companies was one of their largest donors with a contribution of $1000.
However, the members of Pike did not just sleep in boxes. There was a range of other rules. Participants were not allowed to spend any money, or go anywhere other than to the class or the library. They were especially not allowed to go back to their house. While this was requested, it was of course not enforceable due to certain circumstances.
In the middle of the McCaffrey Center, they placed a water jug for additional donations and that alone raised another $1,000. The participants also received food donations since they could not buy them family brought pizzas, baked goods, and KFC among other things. At the encouragement of Vice President of Student Life Elizabeth Griego, Bon Appetit delivered two kinds of hot soup, bread and water. This was a much-appreciated gesture especially on such a cold winter night. Members of the sororities also brought their hashers some leftovers.
Eric Hartman said, “The best part was being interviewed by the media. They had their stereotypes about us and our event and I believe that we showed them that on the contrary this is a good event and that we are doing a really legitimate thing for the Second Harvest Food Bank. What we did was not easy; I mean we raised $1,000 in 50 hours, that is impressive.”
Their aim was to spread awareness and help fill the needs of the Second Harvest Food Bank.
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