Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity organized its second annual Light the Night Walk to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The walk is a national event for chapters of the fraternity.
“Every year the national fraternity has a leadership conference,” said Nick Land, former philanthropy chair for Phi Kappa Sigma. “I went last year and heard about this and we basically just took off from there.”
More than $5,000 were raised last year. The fraternity hopes to continue to increase the amount of money raised each year, Land said, so that the event can continue to happen in the future.
Grant Kaufman, this year’s philanthropy chair for Phi Kappa Sigma, took new steps to help the event grow this year, Land said.
“To give people more drive to show up, we’re doing this thing where you write down another cause you care a lot about, and we’re doing a random drawing and donating some of the money raised to that cause,” Kaufman said.
All other proceeds were donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization dedicated to funding and research for Leukemia and Lymphoma treatments. LLS had a table from its Indianapolis branch at the event.
“To actually have our organization at the event is really valuable to us,” said Jo Garcia, a campaign specialist for LLS who attended the event. “We were reached out to by Grant, and we love being on the IU campus and seeing what they’re doing with our letters as well as theirs. The least we can do is show up and give out some free shirts.”
Be the Match, a national bone marrow transplant registry, also had a table at the event to allow students to sign up as bone marrow donors. The organization has a database of 24 million people in order to match those who need transplants with potential donors.
“I think this is a really unique event because people who are affected by this and people from the society we’re donating to can actually come,” said Landon Davison, a junior and member of Phi Kappa Sigma. “You can see where your dollars are going and who you’re helping.”
Before the walk began, Autumn Brooke Neal, a former IU student, spoke to the crowd about her father who died of lymphoma after fighting cancer three other times. It was important to the fraternity that this philanthropy event was taken seriously, Davison said.
Neal then led the walk through Dunn Meadow, around Showalter Fountain and past the Sample Gates, with everyone holding flashing balloons and glow sticks to light the way.
“It is up to all of us to keep up the fight to raise awareness for blood cancers,” Neal said. “You never know the difference you could make.”
