Thursday night, members of the Greek system packed into Gerlinger Hall for a dance competition to conclude a week of fundraising that brought in more than $15,000 for Sigma Chi fraternity’s annual “Derby Days” fundraiser.Derby Days is a four-day competition to see which sorority can raise the most money for Sigma Chi’s philanthropy, the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, said Scott Wolfe, the fraternity’s derby master. In the past, the money used to go toward the Children’s Miracle Network, but this year Sigma Chi decided to switch to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
“We had a lot of family deaths in the fraternity through cancer, so we decided to change (the charity) to something closer to the heart,” Wolfe said.
The foundation is one of the largest non-profit cancer research associations in the country and relies entirely on donations to support its leading scientists, who include 2007 Nobel Prize Winner Mario Capecchi, according to the organization’s Web site.
The Huntsman Cancer Institute “houses and manages the largest, most comprehensive genetics database in the world, and more cancer genes have been identified by HCI scientists than at any other cancer research institute,” the Web site says.
Derby Days began Monday and concluded with Thursday’s dance competition. Sororities were awarded points for putting on various events and for earning money for the charity, Wolfe said.
On Monday evening, sorority members decorated Sigma Chi with posters that represented themes chosen by the sororities.
“They pretty much just messed up our house completely,” Wolfe said, laughing.
Tuesday night, fraternity members acted, rapped and performed short skits for sorority members, Wolfe said. Fraternity members then auctioned themselves off to provide services such as extra performances and housework for the sororities.
Wolfe said the most popular piece (and the one that brought in the most money) was a tribute to the “evolution of dance” put on by 30 members of the fraternity. The women of Kappa Delta paid $800 for the privilege of having the men come to a function wearing their costumes from the skit.
Each day during the competition, Sigma Chi set up coin drives outside The Duck Store and sold T-shirts to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. At Thursday’s competition, the sororities choreographed their own dances that featured members of Sigma Chi.
The dances represented a wide range of genres, from Gamma Phi Beta’s swing dance routine to “Hey Big Spender” to Pi Beta Phi’s gangster twist to a medley that included “Singing in the Rain.” Performances also included hip hop by Chi Omega and Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta’s adorable revive of 1920s-style “flappers,” and Alpha Chi Omega’s performance of a piece titled “High School Drama,” which drew laughter from the crowd.
Kappa Kappa Gamma won the competition, having received the most overall points.
Overall, Sigma Chi raised $15,242, far surpassing its original goal of $10,000. Wolfe said the amount is the largest Sigma Chi has ever raised and said he thinks it “may be the largest amount a Greek house has earned in a while.”