South Carolina IFC raises $41,000 for Camp Cole

Photo submitted by Joseph McNamara

Within the past few years, the 23 IFC chapters at the University of South Carolina have started supporting and raising funds for Camp Cole, located just outside of Columbia, South Carolina. Camp Cole is a fully accessible camp and retreat designed for kids, teens and adults that have serious mental, physical, emotional health or life challenges. Raising money for Camp Cole has been both rewarding and impactful for the IFC chapters and the Camp itself. Joseph McNamara, IFC Vice President of Conduct, shared, “… we wanted [to support] Camp Cole because it is a local place that works directly with our city and it definitely makes a lot of our community feel a bigger sense of accomplishment than something less local would.”

In previous years a flag football tournament titled Greek Bowl was hosted; however, this year, due to University and state physical distancing guidelines, a golf tournament was held instead. Prior to the tournament, each chapter was given a goal of how much to raise based on chapter size and all chapters exceed their fundraising goals. The tournament proved a success as $41,000 was raised for Camp Cole. The IFC plans to make this an annual event and hopes to raise even more for the Camp in future years.