This past weekend Commonwealth University Mansfield’s fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon capped off Paddy Murphy week with their annual fundraiser Miss Minerva at The Hut on Friday, April 12.
The week leading up to the Miss Minerva pageant is Paddy Murphy Week, which is a weeklong celebration celebrating the fraternities history with fun and fundraising. During this week, members of SAE recruit other campus organizations to participate by picking a young woman to be their representative in the Miss Minerva pageant. Each organization also paints a Paddy Murphy-themed coffin lid which is used to raise money by people voting with their wallets for their favorite.
Paddy Murphy Week is not taken lightly by the brothers; the story of Chicago Mobster Paddy Murphy, the brotherhood and the untouchable Eliot Ness has been passed down for years. That story can be found at www.saenicholls.com/history-of-paddy-murphy.
As part of their honoring this tale they do whatever it takes to raise money for the chosen cause. Throughout the week, the young men of SAE could be seen inside Lower Manser collecting votes for the coffin lids, and outside of South Hall Mall offering carnival style games to raise additional funds.
All proceeds from the event went to St. Jude Children’s Hospital this year. Philanthropy Chair Anthony Dunkel said the fraternity donates to a different organization every year.
“We have not always donated to St. Jude’s. Last year we donated money to a local school teacher named Elizabeth Hoover. She was a really close friend of mine so I was very involved last year, and that’s when I kind of fell in love with the position,” Dunkel said. “We raised a little over $2,000 this year.”
