This is an original University of Arizona event. Other chapters collect toys but to my knowledge no chapter has an actual competition as we do. If you need an event trust me when I say this one really does work!
Fall of 2009 we had zero philanthropy events and Pikes 4 Tykes really came out of no where. It was late September and I was actually a member of our community service committee. Without really asking anyone I decided to send out some info to each sororities president to see if they wanted to donate some toys to the Tucson Salvation Army. The event would go from October 15 - December 15, ending right before Christmas break and I really thought we would only get about 50+ toys max.
I had no budget. I had no committee. However, at the end of October I was able to secure sponsorship from the Salvation Army in the way of money to purchase apparel which would include the salvation army logo. My exec also gave me about $400 for an awards dinner. Now I had prizes, and if you haven't figured it out yet everyone loves prizes and the ability to win something, especially in a greek atmosphere. November 1st the event became a competition, with the winning sorority receiving a Pike Brother catered dinner and every member of the winning sorority that donated receiving winning apparel.
We have eleven sororities and in the end only nine participated but out of those nine four of them really participated. In the end we collected over 1,400 toys worth more than $10,000. We know had a great event that hit numerous areas for our chapter. Philanthropy was hit by us giving $10,000 worth of toys to the Salvation Army, community service was hit by the time it took to work the event, find, buy and donate toys. Brotherhood was hit by bringing our men together for 2 months to work the event, collect the toys, count the toys, make announcements and cater the dinner. Sorority relations was huge since we continually were at the house to make announcements, check on the progress and encourage the women to donate and finally our social was hit. We planned donating events in the two month span taking 10-15 girls to Toys R Us in a purchase style party, we had a 2-3 hour catered dinner event at the winning sororities house and hopefully in future years we can incorporate the final event into a Christmas Donation Party.
This event really does take little to no work in the end. The ladies do everything within the competition. The main work for Pike is the initial and end stuff. The second year we had over $12,000 toys donated and as the event continues I can only see it increasing with participation. Take it outside your greek system, move it to athletics, clubs and other University organizations to increase the amount of toys you receive. This can be as big or as small as you want and are willing to work for.
Fall of 2009 we had zero philanthropy events and Pikes 4 Tykes really came out of no where. It was late September and I was actually a member of our community service committee. Without really asking anyone I decided to send out some info to each sororities president to see if they wanted to donate some toys to the Tucson Salvation Army. The event would go from October 15 - December 15, ending right before Christmas break and I really thought we would only get about 50+ toys max.
I had no budget. I had no committee. However, at the end of October I was able to secure sponsorship from the Salvation Army in the way of money to purchase apparel which would include the salvation army logo. My exec also gave me about $400 for an awards dinner. Now I had prizes, and if you haven't figured it out yet everyone loves prizes and the ability to win something, especially in a greek atmosphere. November 1st the event became a competition, with the winning sorority receiving a Pike Brother catered dinner and every member of the winning sorority that donated receiving winning apparel.
We have eleven sororities and in the end only nine participated but out of those nine four of them really participated. In the end we collected over 1,400 toys worth more than $10,000. We know had a great event that hit numerous areas for our chapter. Philanthropy was hit by us giving $10,000 worth of toys to the Salvation Army, community service was hit by the time it took to work the event, find, buy and donate toys. Brotherhood was hit by bringing our men together for 2 months to work the event, collect the toys, count the toys, make announcements and cater the dinner. Sorority relations was huge since we continually were at the house to make announcements, check on the progress and encourage the women to donate and finally our social was hit. We planned donating events in the two month span taking 10-15 girls to Toys R Us in a purchase style party, we had a 2-3 hour catered dinner event at the winning sororities house and hopefully in future years we can incorporate the final event into a Christmas Donation Party.
This event really does take little to no work in the end. The ladies do everything within the competition. The main work for Pike is the initial and end stuff. The second year we had over $12,000 toys donated and as the event continues I can only see it increasing with participation. Take it outside your greek system, move it to athletics, clubs and other University organizations to increase the amount of toys you receive. This can be as big or as small as you want and are willing to work for.
