Car Fundraiser
In the center of Fraternity Row lay a beat-up sedan.
But this wasn’t the morning after a Duke riot; It was football gameday, and the car was covered in red spray paint — #BeatOhioState.
Somewhere, “Pursuit of Happiness” blared from speakers, as a boy in pastel shorts stepped onto the car. Hat backward, he adjusted his grip on the sledgehammer before swinging toward the car’s trunk, again, again and again.
The trunk popped open. Everybody cheered.
This university’s Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter raised $829 Friday, charging students $2 for a swing at the sedan and $5 for 45 seconds of hammer time.
All of the proceeds will go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the university medical center in Baltimore. The center’s NICU has been Sigma Phi Epsilon’s official philanthropic project since spring 2013, said Danny Wolf, the chapter’s president.
Sigma Phi Epsilon recently signed an agreement with the center to raise $25,000 over the next five years to help with the construction of a new hospital wing, Wolf said. The fraternity will receive the naming rights to one of the rooms.
An hour into the event, two golf carts pulled up — horns blaring — with men’s basketball players. Everyone cheered again.
“I’m not going to hit it until you scream ‘Go Terps!’” Terrapins men’s basketball guard Dez Wells said as he stood in front of the car.
After the first swing, Wells climbed up on the roof of the car and bashed down, sending bits of paint and metal flying.
“We figured the opportunity to hit a car with a sledgehammer would appeal to almost every kid out there,” Wolf said.
Watch a video from Maryland Basketball here:
