Greek Life is often portrayed in media as a place for party animals. And that’s well-known on the UW-Whitewater campus where students often emulate the famous actor/comedian John Belushi, who once walked the halls as a student before gaining fame in films such as “Animal House.” However, Greek Life in the 21st Century is about a lot more than that. Greeks do a lot of volunteering and philanthropy work, helping the campus and community address current important societal issues.
One such fraternity is Lambda Chi Alpha, which hosted its own infamous annual fundraiser called the Watermelon Bash Saturday, Sept. 28. The event welcomed a around a hundred student spectators and participants excited to roll, throw, smash and eat those tasty melons.
“We do Watermelon Bash every year for the Movember Foundation, which is a charity that helps men’s mental and physical health,” said Evan Mallon, the philanthropy chair for Lambda Chi Alpha. “Overall, it provides some added awareness and funding for a good community cause.”
The Movember Foundation was founded in 2003 to help men’s mental and physical health, especially in areas of prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide among men. Their event runs through the entire month of November and encourages men to show their support by growing a mustache. Since the founding of the organization, it has raised over $837 million dollars for various causes.
While the Watermelon Bash is held to raise money for this foundation, it’s not your typical boring networking fundraiser. It’s a lot more exciting than that, and participants are happy to pay a few bucks for some fun. Teams of five compete in events such as a watermelon eating contest, weight guessing, shot put and bowling. There’s even a darts event where they are thrown into large slices of the fruit and watermelon archery where the teams throw the big green balls off a balcony at a target below.
“I came out to the Watermelon Bash to support Lambda Chi Alpha,” said Chloe Shroeder, a member of the Delta Zeta sorority. “I liked the watermelon eating contest because it was fun watching women in my sorority mow down getting messy.”
The most popular event was bashing watermelons. This event allowed participants at the bash to place a watermelon on a stump and smash it with a makeshift sledgehammer. The crowd goes wild with each hit as sweet sticky pieces go flying over the spectators.
There were 10 teams that signed up to compete this year, with 50 total participants. And with over 240 watermelons, there was not a shortage to be bashed. In the end after all the melons were mastered, Lambda Chi Alpha raised over $500 for the Movember Foundation and a lot of awareness about contemporary issues in men’s health.
