Students raise thousands for charity event

Although Tech and UGA might not see eye-to-eye in the football stadium, both universities find common ground in helping the community. This past Thanksgiving break, the Tech and UGA chapters of Phi Gamma Delta coordinated the 10th Annual Fiji Run for the Kids, raising money for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta by completing an act that Tech is definitely good at: running the ball.

The event was a relay-style football run from Athens to Atlanta, covering a distance of approximately 74 miles. Each chapter was responsible for running half the distance. From the Tech chapter, 33 brothers were responsible for actually running the ball between the two cities.

The target fundraising goal for the event was $25,000, but the final total was approximately $32,000. Most of the money came from corporate and individual sponsorships. In the end, there were 15 corporate sponsors and over 180 private donors.

Fraternity brothers Chris Gerard, Jonathan Haag and Trevor Kramer served as the event coordinators. The bulk of the work was organizing the fundraising campaign over the summer as well as managing run logistics.

"The greatest challenge was the coordination in all the parts. Pulling together the corporate donors, the private donors, the brothers to run, and getting in touch with the Athletic Association was hard work but definitely paid off in the end," said Jonathan Haag, third-year Building Construction major.

In recognition of their achievements, the brothers had the honor of presenting the game ball before the kickoff of the Tech vs. UGA game.

"The most fun part about planning the event was getting everyone in our fraternity working together for the common goal of helping others in need...it was very rewarding to see our guys running along the road and then presenting the game ball before kickoff," said Chris Gerard, fourth-year Industrial Engineering major.

"Knowing that all of the work we were doing was going to help such a good cause kept us all motivated," Haag said.