Rush week at Millikin has come to an end and new members have started settling into Greek Life and getting used to their new fraternity or sorority. While these groups are considered “social fraternities” each house on campus is connected to philanthropic causes in one way or another. One of the fraternities on campus is working with their philanthropic causes currently by way of hosting a fundraiser.

Tau Kappa Epsilon is hosting a biggest loser competition fundraiser in which participants make up teams of 5 and over the next 8 weeks, compete to see which team can lose the most weight overall. To join the competition and compete, each contestant was required to pay a fee but part of the funds raised to compete will be going to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, one of the fraternity’s philanthropic organizations and the rest is a cash prize for the winning team. Teams weighed in on February 18^th and 19^th and the competition began on those days.

The fundraiser was started by TKE member Phil Kruis who when asked how he came up with the idea to do a biggest loser competition, stated that “We were thinking of fundraising ideas and I thought of how I dropped 30 pounds over a few weeks and thought of how I felt much better about myself afterwards. We also needed a way that we could get the rest of Millikin’s campus involved. So I was thinking of ways to raise funds and incorporate the rest of campus and came up with the idea to use my personal experience to help us fundraise. I also thought that if I threw not only an incentive to help out St. Jude, but also a cash prize, it would further motivate contestants to lose weight. A lot of the brothers also like to be competitive so I figured if we hosted a competition, most of them would want to be involved and participate. So in a way we are helping out not only St. Jude but we are also helping Millikin become healthier. I also did the math and found that if we had about 10-15 teams of 5 with each member paying $5 we could easily raise a lot of money for St. Jude.”

Not only is cash an incentive to win the contest, according to Phil “I also started this competition as a way to promote fitness here at Millikin. After losing weight, I felt great and I think others may feel the same way afterwards. My goal is that contestants will feel good about themselves as they work to lose weight and that by the end of the contest, everyone will finish the contest feeling that they have improved themselves health wise.”

When asked why he was participating, one participant Cole Sondgeroth said “Well I am motivated by the fact that I get to be competitive, not only do I get to be competitive with the rest of the TKE chapter and my TKE brothers, but at the same time I also get to be competitive with the rest of campus. Hopefully this idea of competition will help motivate others out there to also get healthier. While my main goal in this contest is for my team and me to get healthier, I also plan on using the competition factor to motivate my team to win. And not only is there a cash prize involved but with part of the proceeds going to St. Jude everyone who participates is not only working to get healthier but is also contributing to helping out a great cause like St. Jude.”