The $55,387 will be used for two months shelter
The day after Thanksgiving, 45 fraternity brothers from Phi Gamma Delta ran a football 60 miles south to raise the largest amount of money for the Lafayette Urban Ministry in history.
Two of them, James Klekovkin and Connor Ruhnow, decided to run the football from Ross Ade to Memorial Stadium at Indiana University after hearing that it was a tradition for the frat back in the day from an alumn.
They partnered with the IU chapter of FIJI to re-start the tradition, but this time using it as an opportunity to create a philanthropic event.
“We both realized that homelessness was a serious problem in both of our college communities,” Klekovkin said. “Our goal was to both find charities, local charities, that work to fight the homelessness problem.”
At the beginning of the year the boys decided to visit several charities and they met LUM first.
“They are phenomenal people over there,” Klekovkin said. “I mean, after that meeting, we knew right away that that was the charity that we wanted to support.”
In the end they raised $28,130 for LUM — enough to fund the 48-bed shelter for over a month, LUM Director Wes Tillet said.
“It’s an amazing I mean, just an amazing gift,” Tillet said. “It just felt incredible to have that kind of support, that kind of creativity, a kind of heart.”
Tillet also said they had a larger outreach because many FIJI graduates donated. He said tapping into the FIJI network helped raise awareness and money.
“This was not only the largest donation for Lafayette Urban Ministry, but also the largest philanthropy event for our chapter, and the most money that we’ve ever raised for any philanthropy event,” Klekovkin said.
The boys started at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving to make it on time to the Old Oaken Bucket game.
“We all had to come up from after our Thanksgiving dinners, drive back up to Purdue and then wake up at 5 a.m. you know, stomachs full and everything, and then start, start running a mile and a half in the freezing cold.” Klekovkin said.
They ran country roads while it was zero degrees outside the entire way, Ruhnow said.
Tillet said many people live in a bubble, without thinking of those with less resources. Awareness about the growing issue of homelessness is important.
“There’s 70 or so people that are sleeping at the shelter every night,” Tillet said. “And I just think it’s encouraging that there are students over there and alumni Purdue alumni, that are being mindful of the fact that there are those who are are in need of shelter, in need of encouragement, in need of a sense of hope.”
