“We were competing in a national food drive contest to win a free concert from the band Particle” says Lehigh University’s Andy Rosenbloom. Now there is a reason to raise money! And with this noble cause firmly in mind, the men of Alpha Chi Rho set out to raise $1,000.

They did it in about an hour.

“We had done other programs before” recounts Rosenbloom – “Stuff like T-shirt sales and a dunk tank at a fair. But we barely broke even on those things. We looked for another fundraiser idea and found CampusFundraiser. The CampusFundraiser experience was a whole different story – we did much better this time.”

Better indeed – in fact, Alpha Chi Rho earned over double their original goal in a mere three hours.

“This was easy and very worthwhile” says Andy. And even though not all the brothers were terribly thrilled at the idea of yet another fundraiser, CampusFundraiser’s representatives “were very enthusiastic and encouraging – they helped me round up all the guys and stress the importance of optimizing our time. In fact, the guys who were into it gave it their all and had a really good time in the process.”

Of course, one of the pleasures of our programs is the expanded opportunity to meet new people, and this one was no exception. As Andy points out; “I encouraged the guys to participate with added benefits like meeting freshman girls and finding friends from last year.”

One might naturally wonder about that food drive contest that started the whole discussion. Andy tells us his guys raised enough money to donate the following to the South Bethlehem Neighborhood Center:

·         270 cans of soup	·         600 boxes of pasta	·         Snack foods
·         400 boxes cereal	·         Canned fruit	·         Taco mix
·         400 lbs of flour for the food bank	·         Oatmeal	·         Vegetables

All told there were 2,400 items donated at a time when the Center was at a severe low due to the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. One can only imagine how many less-fortunate families had a happier holiday season thanks to the men of Alpha Chi Rho.

A mere two weeks later the call came; “Congratulations! You’ve won the show. You donated the most food!” said the representative of Particle.”

Which means this coming April 20^th, Alpha Chi Rho will be playing host to what promises to be the biggest concert of the year at Lehigh University. Fortunately, they have a large parking lot (and since the concert is open to everyone in the community, they’ll probably need it). To bring things full-circle, Andy says plans include charging an admission fee (one can of food) and donating profits from any food concessions back to the food bank.

You guys are an inspiration for the rest of us. Congratulations on having one of the most productive fundraisers of the year.

CampusFundraiser can help your group successfully raise money too. Find out how.