Samford Chapter Hits Gridiron to Help Kids

The brothers at the Sigma Chi chapter at Samford University geared up and took to the football field to help inner-city youth in Fairfield, Ala.
The Samford Sigs kicked off their inaugural philanthropic event named the Charity Bowl to help raise money for The Restoration Academy, a school in the Birmingham, Ala., area that helps develop character in the lives of its students and provide every student with a quality academic foundation. From its event, the chapter raised $7,000 for the academy.
“Our guys who had a presence at the [academy] through Young Life, an organization that gives kids a safe place through school, had already developed relationships with these kids [at the Academy] and saw a huge need to help with tuition and develop the school more,” says Consul Holmes Hill, 2013. “We definitely wanted to support such a good cause.”
Barrett Atkins, 2014, got sponsors for the game, while Ben Meadows, 2012, and William Teer, 2014, helped him out. The chapter also charged a $5 admission to the game, and admission tickets were used by the crowd to vote for a Charity Bowl Queen, which was chosen from campus sorority and women’s fraternity contestants.
To go along with the great results on the donation side of the philanthropic event, the Samford Sigs also did some work on the field against the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity as Sigma Chi prevailed 35-0.
The academy donated helmets and equipment for both teams to use in the game, and the chapter also worked hand-in-hand with its university, which advised issuing injury waivers and requiring physicals from participants for liability issues. To Hill and his brothers, the hard work was worth it.
“[The game] was definitely more than anything we expected. The turnout rivaled an actual football game in the fall,” Hill said. “It brought the Greek[-letter] community and the surrounding community together. It was just a great memory for our guys, not only because we won, but because a lot of the guys haven’t been on the football field since high school.”
Have a good idea for a philanthropic event? Let Sigma Chi International Headquarters know about it. Contact Blake Rus, director of chapter support, at (847) 869-3655, ext. 229, or blake.rus@sigmachi.org, with any ideas.