From March 24th to the 29th, Tau Kappa Epsilon at Virginia Tech, held their annual “TKE Week” fundraising event. They were able to raise over $250,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, bringing their overall total to over $1,000,000 in five years. TKE at Virginia Tech is the top fundraising chapter in national partnership history with St. Jude.
Approximately 930 fundraising pages were created by Virginia Tech students and alumni to support the cause. Several events were held to raise money over the six days including social media challenges, a volleyball tournament and a “Battle of the Bands”. Every event was held with the goal in mind to raise money to support St. Jude and its fight against childhood cancer.
“It was amazing to see so many people on campus come together to support such a great cause,” Mark Ebner, philanthropy chairman of Tau Kappa Epsilon, said, “Around $100,000 of the $250,000 was from outside of the brotherhood and I couldn’t be more grateful for their support. I just hope other people see the success we’ve had and realize that they can make a difference too.”
Tau Kappa Epsilon is a social fraternity at Virginia Tech that hopes to go beyond what it means to be the typical fraternity. Every year they put aside partying and the other activities one would come to expect from a group with their label to work alongside other sororities, fraternities, local businesses and more to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude runs entirely off of donations to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.
For additional information about the event, members of the community can call 856-912-9814 or email emark23@vt.edu.
