The men of Lambda Chi Alpha
proudly presented their biannual philanthropy event on Friday May 11, 2012, the
Watermelon Bash! When I first
heard of such an event, I automatically thought “what can you really do with a
watermelon?” Well apparently you
can do a relay event, a watermelon toss, an eating relay, and even a
paint-your-coach-watermelon-bash-themed.
Of course, bashing watermelons was a continuous action through the
entire event. Teams of four,
represented by other Greek organizations Gamma Phi Beta, Theta Phi Alpha, and
Kappa Alpha Theta, competed for the gold hammer, representing the bashing of
watermelons.
Starting in the relay event
meant passing the watermelon between your four teammates, over then under then
over then under, until moving right on to the watermelon roll wheel barrel
event. Even after one of our
teammates dropped our watermelon splitting it open, we managed to pull through
and take 2nd place in the relay event! Then came the watermelon toss. After the first run, a tie-breaker was needed and we placed
1st in the toss. Go Rho Gamma2.! The next event was
the paint-your-coach to match the theme of watermelon bashing. Although we did not place in this
event, we were very proud of our coach and his tolerance of our
‘water-mer-melon-man’ character we decided to go with. The last event came to the eating
competition. For the uneven small
and large pieces, our team was definitely challenged right until the end. Again, we did not place in this event
but we certainly had our fill. In
the end, points were totaled from the events and Pi Beta Phi took 2nd
place and we now have a beautiful silver hammer sitting in our home.
And the philanthropy? All proceeds raised from and during the
event go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The event was made personal and special when an UC Lambda
Chi alumna spoke about his involvement with fighting cystic fibrosis, a disease
diagnosed to his oldest son. His
family came and supported the active members of his chapter in the watermelon
bash. At the end of the event,
with a large amount of watermelons left over for bashing, his son proudly took
the giant hammer inscribed with the letters Lambda Chi Alpha and bashed
watermelons! It was touching to
see an alumna stay connected with his chapter, even under unfortunate
circumstances as being diagnosed with the disease that his fraternity had took
an initiative to fight. I can say
that I will definitely be participating again!
Written by: Raleigh Pierson
