Fraternity Fun & Games to Help Critically Ill Children

Jon Routh, Andre Johnson, Tito McMahon

Fraternity leaders, university students, fundraisers for critically ill children

When mobilized to raise funds for the American Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Wisconsin, Sigma Chi uses fun and games for a serious cause.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a venerable institution, as the oldest and largest public university in the state and rooted in what they call the “Wisconsin Idea” – which believes that all university efforts in research, teaching, and service should benefit the community as a whole. The men of the Alpha Lambda Chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity embody that philosophy annually when they organize their Derby Days fundraiser for the American Family Children’s Hospital.

\"The — The Volleyball Tournament portion of Sigma Chi\’s Derby Days fundraising week

The AFCH, right in the heart of Madison, serves a noble cause each and every day – the pediatric hospital has been ranked in the top 50 nationally by U.S. News and World Report in the fields of cancer, gastroenterology, orthopedics, and pulmonology. The hospital cares for the sickest and most seriously injured infants, children and adolescents referred from throughout Wisconsin, the United States and beyond. The AFCH provides patients and their families with many services, including sleep areas for parents and siblings, a family resource center, and a program that works with schools so that children can continue their educations.

See the story of McKinnley, a baby born eight weeks premature, with heart disease, and how the AFCH supported her and her family.

So how to make their Derby Days fundraiser stand out in a sea of almost 30,000 undergraduates? Jon Routh, Andre Johnson, and Tito McMahon turned to Hobnob to send out text-based invitations for their event that spanned four days and included nine major sororities.

data-animation-override>
“There were several aspects of the Hobnob mobile application that worked great for this event, like the ability to send out the invite to people through text and invitees being able to RSVP without having the app. We also raised awareness for the Derby Days fundraiser and had many people who couldn’t attend but still were able to donate to the cause of supporting the UW American Family Children’s Hospital with the link to the donation site in the invite.”

— Tito McMahon

data-animation-override>
“Thanks to Hobnob we were able to spread the word about our fundraiser, and invite everyone to our biggest event of the week. We were able to raise over $11,000 and couldn’t have done it without the help of our fraternity brothers, alumni, family, friends, and Hobnob.”

— Jon Routh, President – Alpha Lambda Chapter of Sigma Chi