On Feb. 19 Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity hosted a blood drive at the SPEC from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.. TKE president Kort Branscome and Millikin student Jessica Becker formed the blood drive event when Becker came up to Branscome with the idea. According to Branscome, TKE stopped hosting the blood drive a few years ago, but Branscome and Becker thought it was time to bring it back to Millikin.

The two marketed the blood drive with posters, flyers in student mailboxes, and word of mouth. They hoped that with the fraternity’s past involvement with the blood drive students would come to donate blood, but the event was not as successful as they hoped.

With only 10 people attending the blood drive, the question became: what can be done for future blood drives.

“Marketing was semi-effective this time around because there could have been more publicity on the event itself. We would also want to reach out to the Decatur community because we focused primarily on Millikin students this year. So involving the community would definitely help boost attendance,”  Kort Branscome, TKE president, said.

This past semester TKE also held a tailgate for the first night football game with the new stadium lights and raised money through their No Shave November campaign. These events were successful both financially and publicly because of their marketing campaign. So the fraternity hopes to incorporate similar marketing strategies to improve the blood drive.

TKE is the world’s largest social fraternity. They have more than 300 active chapters in both United States and in Canada. The Millikin Beta chapter was the second TKE chapter to be formed in the United States and is now the oldest existing chapter in the country. Their national philanthropy raises money for St. Jude’s Children’s Cancer Research Hospital.

The fraternity at large raises over a million dollars for this foundation. St. Jude provides medical care at no cost at all for patients and their families. That includes medical expenses, travel, and housing during the hospital stay. St. Jude is also able to conduct more cancer research through these charitable donations much like the blood drive that was hosted on February 19. TKE’s core values are love, charity, and esteem, which perfectly encompasses what St. Jude is all about.

TKE plans to continue this event and hopes to encourage  more Millikin students and the Decatur community alike to participate in events that raises money for such a worthy cause.