Mortar Board, an ONU senior honorary society focused on scholarship, leadership and service, works every year to try to give stuffed polar bears to children in the hospital. Recently, they tried to come up with a fundraiser to help raise money to get even more polar bears for the sick kids.
Last year, they held an event called Pie-A-Professor, but it didn’t go as well as hoped. With the recent popularity of 5k events, Mortar Board decided to host a holiday-themed 5k.
This new event is called the Reindeer Run, and the proceeds went to the Hardin Memorial Hospital in the form of stuffed polar bears for all of the kids. The actual run had a holiday theme, complete with Santa Clause, costumes, hot chocolate and even free antlers for the first 20 people. The 5k was scheduled to be outside with a different course than the normal 5k: the plan was to go through campus instead of just behind it. If case of rain, the event would happen in Kinghorn.
While at the 5k, students were able to write letters to the children at the hospital. This event also served as a great way to bond with friends. Members of Ada Friends brought their littles with them to the event to engage and bond with the community.
Mortar Board really wanted to make a big impact on children in the hospital by keeping this program running in the future, Molly Wheeler, Mortar Board’s activity chair, said.
“One of the things the president (of Mortar Board) wants to do is to make this event an annual event. We really want to branch out and be able to expand to another hospital,” she said.
The outreach is great for ONU and its student body, but it’s more about the children and making them happy. To make this event a success, Mortar Board wanted to reach out to the college community to help gather more manpower. To do that, they approached Greek life, and more specifically, the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.
Kappa Alpha Theta was excited to team up to help the kids at
the Hardin Memorial Hospital. Mikayla Shea, Kappa Alpha Theta’s Chief education officer, was a big part of the planning. She expressed how honored the sorority was to be picked as a group to help with the kids.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity to pair with another organization that promotes leadership. I think it’s great that we can get together as leaders to support something that benefits others rather than ourselves,” Mikayla said.