PEORIA, IL – Hundreds of bright orange pumpkins rolled into Olin Quad on Saturday, October 12th to kick off Lambda Chi Alpha’s annual philanthropy event, the Pumpkin Bash. Students, specifically members of the Chi Omega and Sigma Kappa sororities, competed in a series of “minute to win it” competitions – all involving pumpkins in creative ways to promote fun and community.

Caleb Hollis, a sophomore and the Philanthropy Chairman of the fraternity, shared insight into the event’s structure.

“We invited sororities and other groups around campus to join us and create a team of at least five,” explained Hollis. “They compete in events that involve smashing pumpkins – like relay races, shot put and bowling.” 

Hollis added that they used to do a watermelon smash instead but this year they changed to a pumpkin. The entry fee for each group participating was $20 but students who just showed up to the event could pay $3 to participate in smashing a pumpkin.

The teams of five ran relay races carrying a pumpkin and handing it off to their teammate, bowled using pumpkins, threw shot put with pumpkins, carved pumpkins and smashed pumpkins with baseball bats. Teams were awarded points for each event they won and at the end of the day, the Sigma Kappa sorority won and will receive donations towards their philanthropy.

In previous years, Lambda Chi Alpha has used watermelons for smashing. “Nationally, this is what Lambda Chi Alpha does. Every chapter has done a watermelon and more and more have started to shift towards doing pumpkins,” Hollis added. “We decided to jump on that train. I like it a lot more and it fits that vibe of Fall a lot more.”

The Pumpkin Bash was a big and messy kickoff to the Lambda Chi Alpha Philanthropy week which also featured events like a bake sale, raffle, and Bake-a-Lambda. They hope to raise at least $700 for the week.

The proceeds from philanthropy week will all go to Feeding America, an organization dedicated to supporting people in need throughout the country, Hollis stated. 

Hollis’ commitment to philanthropy shines through in his leadership with Lambda Chi Alpha. “I have always been really involved in service in my community,” he said. “I think we have the ability to do good things as a fraternity on campus and I just want to expand on that.”

Social Chairman of Lambda Chi Alpha, Ty Bauer, believes that philanthropy plays an important part in dispelling the myth that Greek Life is just for parties.

“The misconception is broken within philanthropy as it does unify the group in a different setting than the fraternity usually gets a light shown on,” Bauer said. “Philanthropy helps support the community as well as unifying the members.”

Bauer also believes a unique event like this can help foster a community on campus.

“[This event] usually includes multiple different groups on campus and it is a way for people who might not have talked before to get together and make lifelong friendships.”

Sarah Moll, a Sophomore and member of the Chi Omega sorority, shared that after participating in the event last year, she had to come back to support again.

“I just knew I had to do this annually, I love supporting philanthropy,” Moll shared. “Compared to other philanthropy events, This is a lot more engaging and I think a lot of people enjoy the competitive part of this as well… I think both fraternities and sororities should include more competitive games in their philanthropy, that would get a lot more people to show up and participate.”

Hollis is hopeful that the event is expanded on within the next few years. “I would like to open it up to more groups on campus and get as many people involved as possible. I do think it’s a good way to help create a community on campus.” 

Lambda Chi Alpha’s philanthropy efforts continue to support a good cause while fostering a campus community. 

Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was founded in 1909 and is considered one of the largest men’s fraternities, with active chapters and colonies at over 190 universities. Lambda Chi Alpha can be considered the oldest Greek-Life organization on Bradley University’s campus, though it has not been active for the entirety of its 107 year history at Bradley. 

For more information on this and other fraternities at Bradley University, check out the IFC website https://www.bradley.edu/campuslife/fsl/chapters/ifc/.