Sleepout
Gamma Sigma - Sleepout for Homeless
Event Type: Sleepout for the Homeless
Contributors: Gamma Sigma Chapter (Spring 2007 Form 110)
Location: Parking Lot
Planning required:
Resources required:
Materials required:
Event Summary: From 4 p.m. Friday March 30, to 8 a.m. Saturday April 1, 2007, in the Mardel and Hobby Lobby parking lots on Battlefield Road, 48 Brothers of the Gamma Sigma Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi slept out for the homeless in order to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. As if it wasn’t hard enough giving up a warm place to sleep for the night, the unyielding rain that decided to join them made for a very interesting, and wet, night. Dodging plummeting rain drops certainly wasn’t in the event description, but when outside for 16 hours straight you have to expect anything, as the homeless certainly have to. If anything, Brothers actually had more fun getting soaked and saw the rain as a unique way to further bond with fellow Brothers. It took a lot team work and group cooperation to keep all the posters dry, save the food from getting wet, be enthusiastic about the event, and still raise $733 for Habitat for Humanity in the process.
Despite the unique challenges that this year’s Sleepout for the Homeless presented, they were no match for the hard work and dedication that the service committee showed while organizing the event or by Brothers at the event by kicking into action when they saw that others needed help. They say in times of high stress or emergency, one will either fight or flight. In this year’s Sleepout for the Homeless, Brothers of Gamma Sigma definitely fought to make the event a success and persevere through the rain. Furthermore, the television, radio, and newspaper coverage of the event was a testament of the Chapter to show everyone just how important it is to help not just those that are homeless, but anyone in need.
Beta Rho - MS Sleepout
Event Type: MS Sleepout
Contributors: Beta Rho Chapter (Spring 2007 Form 110)
Location: Outside on campus
Planning required: Because we had such great groups to come perform (see below), our Public Relations committee worked hard to generate buzz about the event. They made flyers for the MS Sleepout which also featured the scheduled performances, and they passed them out two days early on The Commons. Public Relations also posted an announcement on table tents, which sit on every table in every dinning hall on campus.
In addition to this event allowing us to raise a great amount of money for a great cause, we were also able to educate our Brotherhood more about Multiple Sclerosis. Our Scholarship committee arranged to have an event, MS Jeopardy, during the Sleepout. This took place around 10 P.M. and brothers and initiates participated for a scholarship event to test their knowledge of MS. A total of 38 Brothers and initiates came out to learn more about MS.
Resources required:
Materials required:
Event Summary:There are at least three or more Brothers stationed on The Commons at all times, all of whom wear Phi Sigma Pi letters and hold large buckets, who politely ask passing students to donate spare change towards MS research. We also rent out a James Madison University card reader so that students are able to use their student identification card and account on it to donate money. This method was especially successful, as we raised over $100 with that alone. We had five businesses donate at least one gift certificate, and we were able to raffle off these prizes for participants who donated at least $2. If someone donated $10 or more, they received another raffle ticket for every $10 donated.
In order to generate more awareness about our event and to encourage more people to go out of their way to show up and donate, we had six popular on campus a capella and dance groups perform that evening, starting at 6:30 P.M. This is much earlier than we have had groups perform in previous years, and possibly because of this we had a larger turnout in groups participating and in JMU students who came out to watch. At one point, we had a crowd of approximately 75 people watching, including Brothers. While the groups performed, there were several Brothers walking around collecting donations from the audience.
