The waning summer days of August 1973 brought bicycles out of Eugene garages and reunions to the city parks, but for Barbara Stoeffler it was the summer she lost her son. Mark was on his bicycle one minute and on the side of the road the next. The 16-year-old died instantly after being hit by a motorist who had been drinking at a high school reunion.
Stoeffler later founded Lane County’s Mothers Against Drunk
Driving chapter.
On Wednesday night, before a crowd of 450, the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and the University’s eight sororities combined to raise an estimated $6,000 for Lane County’s MADD chapter in the third-annual Ms. Greek competition. The contestants displayed their talents, competed in a formal question-and-answer session and received a public recommendation from another member of their respective sorority.
From a “Napoleon Dynamite” dance to a weightlifting display of more than 250 pounds, the nominees for Ms. Greek did not disappoint their peers.
But the purpose of the competition was to raise money and awareness about the dangers of drunk driving.
“Mothers Against Drunk Driving is fighting a problem that plagues the Eugene campus,” Beta Theta Pi Social Chair Daniel Scheinman said. “We want to do everything we can to support them in their cause.”

Last year, the Ms. Greek competition raised more than $4,300 for MADD, but going into Wednesday night the eight University sororities had raised about $5,000 through “Ms. Greek” T-shirt sales and donations, Scheinman said.
This year’s Ms. Greek competition is the largest philanthropic event in the Beta Theta Pi chapter’s history, Scheinman said.
Pi Beta Phi’s Caitlin Cushing, who won the contest with her rendition of the Jackson 5’s hit “One More Chance,” individually raised $1,400 through a raffle for MADD and spoke with Stoeffler about her fundraising efforts.
“I spoke to Barbara on the phone and proposed my idea for doing a raffle,” she said. “I think it’s a great organization and the things she said were just really meaningful, and they show that this is a worthwhile cause.”
“I think a lot of people are just not educated enough about the effects of any alcohol whatsoever on how it impairs your driving,” Scheinman said. “I think education is the most important thing because people don’t realize that they are drunk driving a lot of the time.”
The money raised by the University sororities and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity will possibly be used for an advertising campaign for MADD, Stoeffler said.
The reason for telling others about her son’s death and for her involvement with MADD is simple.
“It’s to save lives,” she said.

Robert X. Fogarty is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald