By Aleina Smith ’27, staff writer
Tau Kappa Epsilon’s (TKE) Rho-Chi chapter has had once again another successful donation event for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, including its famous 24 mile hike to the Harrisburg Capitol Building.
TKE is philanthropic partners with St. Jude’s, meaning the members’ work goes towards fundraising to donate and support children with cancer. LVC’s TKE chapter, Rho-Chi, has its main donation event including an iconic hike to the capitol building in Harrisburg, which is 24 miles long and takes roughly 10 hours.
Aidan Farry, a junior digital communications major and pledge to TKE, is hoping to see this traditional event continue for years to come after his first year involved.
“It is not only a hike for a great cause, but also helps build the brotherhood amongst the guys,” Farry said. “The guys are really passionate about making a difference for families in need.”
TKE is working hard to get more involvement from both the community and students by being more interactive with them.
“This year, we did a thermometer style challenge list,” Farry said. “At each monetary goal we hit, we have to complete that challenge.”
This greatly increased the stakes for the members. One example from this challenge was that if a certain amount of money was hit, the members had to do two times the miles walked so far in push-ups.
Besides the push-ups, Farry mentioned the hardest part of the event being the actual hike itself; a 10 hour, 24 mile hike is no easy feat for someone who isn’t trained.
“The most rewarding part, though, is for sure the feeling of knowing you’re helping make a change and getting to spend time with the brothers,” he said.
Overall, this year’s event had an extremely successful turnout. Not only were there current members and pledges of the fraternity present, but even alumni.
In total, TKE raised more than $6,500 dollars—and the amount keeps increasing.