—Diego Padilla-Chargoy, Beta Mu (McNeese), Philanthropy Chairman
This year The Ability Experience launched a March Madness online fundraising tournament for all chapters of Pi Kappa Phi. Chapters competed head to head with other men across the country, raising funds and awareness for The Ability Experience programing and events.
It all came down to two chapters – Beta Mu at McNeese State and Iota Chi at Ball State. These two chapters rose the occasion and did a tremendous job thinking creativity when it came to their chapter fundraising and getting their friends and family to support the mission of The Ability Experience.
Diego from McNeese, says, “We started off with just a couple of guys sharing their links to social media, but once we got into the 3rd round we knew we needed to ramp it up! Without revealing all of secrets to success, let’s just say we had a good idea somewhere along the way … and it worked!” For the brothers at McNeese, they were thrilled to be in the finals.
“We couldn’t have raised this much money in such a short amount of time if it wasn’t for other
chapters around the nation doing the same! Seeing our brothers fight to make an impact on their campus, made us realize we needed to do the same.” -James Myers, Iota Chi (Ball State), Philanthropy Chairman
After the first week of The Ability Experience March Madness Tournament, Iota Chi started to get more competitive. Their main strategy was waiting until Sunday at midnight to donate all proceeds from the week – spending a lot of time each Sunday calling family and friends asking them to participate. Throughout the semester, they have worked hard to ensure that every campus event leads with showing everyone involved the true meaning behind The Ability Experience.
In its inaugural year, chapters raised $54,000 through this tournament. These funds will help us reach our goal of doubling the number of opportunities for the men of Pi Kappa Phi to impact the lives of people with disabilities this year.