The University’s sororities volunteered at Monmouth Mall for the Monmouth St. Jude Gives Thanks Walk sponsored by the St. Jude Children’s Hospital for cancer research on Saturday, Nov. 23.
Twenty five sisters each from Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA), Alpha Xi Delta (AXD), Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII), Delta Phi Epsilon (DPhiE), Phi Sigma Sigma (Phi Sig), and Alpha Sigma Tau (AST) participated.
Yohanna De Los Santos, senior event marketing representative of the walk, said, “We raised a little over $60,000 and I was extremely happy with the amazing turnout this year. We had about 446 walkers. I cannot wait to see how many people come out next year.”
The walk consisted of nine laps around the Monmouth Mall.
Santos said, “I have been working with St. Jude for a little over three years and it feels like only yesterday that I just started.”
Many of the volunteers were made up of mostly the University’s Greek Life. Kim Butler, a sister of ZTA and a part of the Panhellenic Counsel, helped coordinate the event through the University. Butler said, “I met with Yohanna in regards to preparation for the walk. She asked if we could bring some participants to the event to both help set-up and be actively involved. I brought this to our Panhellenic meetings and was able to convince all of the sororities to help out with the event.”
The walk started at 8 am but volunteers started arriving as early as 5:45 am. Volunteers were split up into different teams and were assigned different duties to attend and make sure the walk went smoothly. Some sorority sisters volunteered to help with registration while others helped set up merchandise.
Santos said planning for the event took around six months. “I work with a wonderful committee who without their help this walk wouldn’t have been possible,” she said.
The fundraiser had many activities for younger children that attended the walk. There were three clowns doing face paintings and making balloon animals. They also had a DJ for entertainment.
Before the walk started, a ribbon was stretched across the beginning of the race and the team that raised the highest amount of donations got to cut the ribbon.
The walk ended around 10 am but the festivities didn’t stop. The organization gave out plaques to the teams that raised the most money. They also gave out a plaque to the team who had the best t-shirt design for the walk.
Sarah Connolly, sister of AXD, said, “It was a great feeling being able to be a part of something so special. Cheering on the racers and watching them walk for something so important.”
PHOTO TAKEN by Nicole Napholz
