The 2003 Watermelon Fest not only provided entertainment last week to fraternities and sororities, it also benefited the Oktibbeha County Food Bank.
Mississippi State University’s Lambda Chi Alpha chapter, sponsor of the event, raised $3,500 and approximately 57,000 pounds of food for the North American Food Drive last week.
The Lambda Chi’s annual Watermelon Fest activities began Tuesday and ended with the Watermelon Games on Friday.
Steve Aufdenkampe, Lambda Chi vice president and Watermelon Fest coordinator, said that on Friday “the week culminated with the Watermelon Fest Games for the sororities as a thank you for the food they had raised.”
“The games were the most fun,” said Kappa Delta Vice President Laura Mims. “It is a freshman event, but the rest of the girls came out and supported them.”
Aufdenkampe said that six sororities supported the event by participating in the week long competition. Tuesday night they held Spirit Night and crowned the Watermelon Festival Queen. The band party at Rick’s Caf Amricain on Wednesday was a big fund-raiser.
Lambda Chi President Joseph Biggert said they “had a great showing on Wednesday night and raised a lot of money.”
Without any costs, the fraternity was able to raise $800.
“Rick was nice enough to let us use the facilities for free,” Aufdenkampe said.
Thursday night the Lambda Chis held a volleyball tournament and a cookout. Delta Delta Delta won the tournament, Delta Gamma came in second and Kappa Delta came in third.
The Watermelon Games were Friday afternoon. The Kappa Deltas took first place in the games and were the over-all winners of the competition.
The Kappa Deltas were right behind the Phi Mu’s 11,000 pounds of food in the can food drive, bringing in 10,000 pounds from their sorority alone.
“The whole chapter brought at least 10 cans each, and one person brought 170, which was exciting,” Mims said.
Aufdenkampe said that the majority of points comes from the can food drive, so the KD’s 10,000 pounds of food along with winning the spirit competition and the Watermelon Games secured their victory.
Not only did the sororities donate food and time to the event, they also participated in the fund-raisers. They bought tickets for the band party and T-shirts the Lambda Chis designed for the event. They even publicized it by writing on their cars.
“There was more participation at all the events compared to last year,” Biggert said. “There were also more cans collected.”
The food will be donated to the Oktibbeha Food Bank, Aufdenkampe said. Instead of buying more food with the money raised, they also donate it to the Food Bank, Aufdenkampe explained. “Their facilities will be maxed out from our food donation. So we donate the money to be used whenever more food is needed,” he said.
Participation in the North American Food Drive is something the Lambda Chi national also does as a whole.
“As a fraternity, we raised over 2 1/2 million pounds of food,” said Aufdenkampe. “This year the goal was set for 3 million, and it looks like it will be passed.”
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