MOST OUTSTANDING PHILANTHROPIC EVENT NOMINEE
Ole Miss Vietnamese American Student Association
Fundraising for St. Jude
Provide a detailed description of the event and the population it served. Details MUST include: date of event, number of participants, program purpose (goals, objectives, etc.) and use of resources (finances, community support, etc.).
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is a well-known pediatric treatment and research center. Its mission is to find cures and preventative measures for childhood cancer and other pediatric diseases. No child is ever denied care at St. Jude due to religion, race, or inability to pay. The hospital has served numerous children from all over the country, and the treatments from the hospital have increased the childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to 80%. Since the hospital never bills any families for their services, donations are crucial in funding research efforts and hospital stays. Fortunately, the official Ironman partners with St. Jude every year to host a half-triathlon in Memphis; they ensure that all entry fees (roughly, $3,000) are donated directly to the hospital. A member of OleVASA, Eric Pham, was interested in participating in the race, and given the nature of St. Jude's mission, we decided to undertake a fundraiser to cover a portion of his entry fees. Our efforts were going to ensure that children at St. Jude are given a chance to live. During our first interest meeting on September 7th, we introduced Eric's Ironman race and the St. Jude fundraiser to our members. We collected donations directly through Eric's Venmo until October 1st. To promote participation, we posted our graphic in GroupMe as well as sending reminders to our members. At the end of the collection period, we successfully raised $1,115 for Eric to compete in the Ironman. 19 of OleVASA's own participated in the drive, and several of our members even traveled with Eric to Memphis the day of the race to show support.
What efforts were used to motivate and involve the organization's members?
We incentivized our members to participate by offering both member and family points. At the end of the year, the top ten members and the family with the most points are rewarded with a gift. Additionally, we emphasized how important the fundraiser was to any child in the United States that is suffering from pediatric cancer; the common phrase used to promote the fundraiser was "For the Kids!".
How did the organization overcome any challenges that arose while planning and implementing the event?
The main challenge that we anticipated was participation. Since this was our first philanthropy project for the year, we were concerned that we wouldn’t have many donations. Accordingly, we made sure to send reminders to both our general GroupMe, individual family group chats, and through word of mouth. Moreover, by introducing the fundraiser weeks in advance of the Ironman race, we gave ourselves an ample amount of time to collect donations.
