By Ann Shelley // Opinion Editor

At the beginning of this past holiday season, 11 brothers from the Iota Class of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity worked together to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a charity seeking a cure for children with cancer. Together, the brothers were able both donate money and raise awareness of the issue by doing something free and easy that makes a bold statement: shaving their heads.

The fraternity’s original goal was to raise $1,650 and have a decent turnout at their head-shaving event that took place in the Beta Theta Pi house on campus on Nov. 28. After a few short weeks, they managed to raise over $25,000 for the cause.

Frantha Phonesavanh, the Iota Class president and leader of the project, said they chose to do the fundraiser for a number of reasons.

“First, we wanted to do something that made a difference,” explained Phonesavanh. “The next step was making it personal to our fraternity. Many brothers have immediate family members who have been affected.”

“The Iota class each took on different responsibilities before and throughout the event. We had specific people responsible for tasks, such as recruiting people and planning food for the event,” said Phonesavanh.

The Beta Theta Pi brothers began raising money by reaching out to family and friends, spreading the word on social media and putting up posters and flyers. The brothers also reached out to several foundations and asked about price matching donations. In the end, they were able to get three foundations to participate. As a result, every dollar raised effectively quadrupled in value.

For this event, the 11 brothers were joined by Kyler Jones, a young child with cancer. While on campus, the Beta Theta Pi brothers gave him and his family a tour of HPU and took him to the arcade to play games.

“Kyler is a great reminder about why our cause is so important,” said Phonesavanh. “His grandmother is an employee at HPU. Upon hearing about Kyler’s story, and definitely after seeing his smile, the Iota class of Beta Theta Pi fell in love with him and unanimously invited him to be our event honoree.”

The Jones family was welcoming towards the Iota Class and ecstatic to see how the fundraiser would play out. In total, the event raised $25,408, which was an immense surprise to the students whose original expectation was comparably small.

“We surpassed our financial goal 15 times over,” Phonesavanh said. “The event itself was a great success. We had a large amount of people flowing in and out of the Beta house throughout the entirety of the event. I hope to assist the fraternity in any way I can with its philanthropy in the future.”

The efforts of the Iota class show that it is possible to create real change by working with those around you in the community.

Beta Theta Pi brother Gianni Pellegrini said, “It’s one thing to raise a bunch of money for a good cause, but what’s even more rewarding is to see the impact it makes on the people who have been affected by childhood cancer.” Pellegrini raised $800 from friends and family by pledging to shave his head.

In response to the massive success of their St. Baldrick’s Foundation event, the team is in good spirits. They greatly enjoyed the experience and they are all looking forward to their next fundraiser.