This year, his fraternity’s annual Derby Days fundraiser chose to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which pays for research for the illness.
“We decided that JDRF was an organization that not only meant something to our fraternity brothers, but there are other members of the Greek system that have Type 1 diabetes as well,” he said.
Derby Days is a weeklong competition among the Panhellenic Council sororities and associate member Phi Beta Chi sorority that is meant to spread awareness and raise money for the charity of the fraternity’s choosing.
Competitions take place during the week, and each one is worth a certain number of points. The sorority that gets the most points by the end of the week is declared the winner at the Sigma Chi alumni tailgate. This year’s winner was the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, which had 273 points.
Wright said that as of now, they have raised $13,000, but are expecting more to come from benefit nights that took place throughout the week.
“That is the most that has been raised since I have been in the fraternity,” he said. “Last year it was around $9,000 to $10,000.”
Junior Drew Golba, co-chairman of Derby Days, said the event is broken down into activities that earn points, such as the banner decorating competition, and that raise money, such as the cookout at the Sigma Chi fraternity house.
“There was a barbecue and a mechanical bull,” he said. “The competition was for which girl could stay on the longest. We made it fun, but at the same time all of the ticket sales (for the cookout) go to charity.”
