Coming into the second semester of my sophomore year, I came to the realization that I hadn't really done anything besides programming, hitting the gym, and playing Fortnite. Though I always had the feeling that I wanted to engage the community in some way, nothing ever held my attention long enough to get me to stay interested. After this realization, I knew I wanted to create something brand new for both myself and the Lehigh community.
St. Baldrick's, a non-profit organization, provides monetary support for childhood cancer research through a fundraising campaign, which raises money off the promise of people going bald. Participants, namely 'shavees', pledge to shave their heads completely, and get monetary donations from friends and family to support their decision to go bald.
Through St. Baldrick's, I aimed to branch away from the status quo of Lehigh philanthropy and give an outlet for students at Lehigh and locals within the Bethlehem community to give something that was truly and entirely theirs; their hair. I had participated in the event in middle school so I figured I'd give it a shot on a college campus.
As a general member of my chapter it was initially intimidating to propose a new event for the chapter, as most of our philanthropy events are proposed and executed by members of our Executive Board, however, with the help of a handful of brothers the event was an overwhelming success. Despite my small initial goal of $5,000 and 8 participants, the event garnered 14 participants, as well as being the highest-grossing philanthropy event in recent chapter history, raising over $13,000 total. This was also the highest grossing philanthropy event out of any IFC chapter this year. This result not only exceeded my expectations, but has helped me realize what sort of things can be accomplished when you have a distinct goal in mind.
The biggest takeaway I had from organizing this event is that what's most important about inspiring change is believing in what you’re doing. While I wasn't always completely sure of what I was doing, believing in myself and accepting the support I received from brothers who shared my vision is what lead the event to its success.
We couldn't have made this event possible without the support from those outside the chapter. Thank you to all of those who participated in the event, it was truly a pleasure to see so much joy and positivity in a single room. I'd also like to give a special thanks to the Behind-the-scenes crew: Nick Christy with the office of Student Engagement, David & Lexi at Sodexo, and the LU Sound crew.