Groups on ONU’s campus, like Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA), are providing a sense of normality to student life with the continuation of traditional events through the disruption caused by COVID-19. The annual Cornhole for a Cause event allowed students on campus to play cornhole competitively to win a $20 gift card. The funds raised from this event go towards breast cancer awareness, the philanthropy focus of the Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity.
Zeta Tau Alpha hosts fun events throughout the semester to promote education about breast cancer, with the majority of these events occurring during Breast Cancer Awareness month, or Pink October. The annual Cornhole for a Cause event began in 2017 and its reemergence into the world of COVID-19 brought students back to pre-pandemic times. This in-person event is one of few that Zeta Tau Alpha could host through Pink October, as there were few ways the event could infringe upon the COVID-19 safety regulations.
The socially distanced waiting stations in the Tent on the Tundra and the spread-out cornhole boards allowed students to enjoy playing cornhole as they normally would have in past years, with the exceptions of wearing a mask and the use of hand sanitizer. A signup sheet was not required so students could walk up and register to join the competition by paying eight dollars per pair.
The competition kicked off around 1:15 pm on October 10, once it looked as though few other people would be joining. The game was set up in a bracket style tournament, which was made the day of the event as students could join up to the beginning of the event. A bracket and a half were filled by the end of the event, organizing the students who participated.
The attendance this year was lower than last year, despite filling in almost two brackets worth of participants. ZTA partnered with Fiji last year to create a Cornhole for a Cause with Saturdays Are For The Good Boys event, where students could come and pet dogs from the animal shelter and then transition into playing cornhole. Cornhole for a Cause could not partner with the Fiji event this year due to COVID safety regulations.
Gina Scampitilla, ZTA’s Vice President One, Coordinator of Committees, said that she feels that even though the two couldn’t partner together this year, “I still feel like because we’ve had that [event] in the past, it was already an established event, so it was successful.” Gutkowski attributed low attendance this year to a lower attraction factor than the previous year, as well as with attendance on campus in general.
“We’ve seen a lot of people not staying on campus on the weekends, a lot of people go home. So we assume that attendance may have hindered that a little bit, but it was still a successful event and it was super fun and it gave our sisters something to do because it’s very hard to find something to do on campus these days.”
COVID-19 regulations are keeping many in-person events from happening this semester, or they are changing how traditional events function in order to be compliant. Some events include ZTA’s annual Pink Game with the football team, Potatoes with the Zetas, and the Race for the Ribbon 5K. ZTA has partnered with the football team in the past to host the Pink Game, as ZTA is partnered with the National Football League (NFL). The Pink Game this year will hopefully be moved to next semester as recent circumstances have paused all fall sports. A Pink Game with the ONU Men’s Lacrosse team was attempted last semester, however, the game was canceled as COVID-19 was peaking at that time.
The Zetas were thrilled that the Cornhole for a Cause event was able to take place even with the COVID restrictions. We were just really excited to be able to put on an event, like a safe event, that was able to bring the community out and… give people opportunities to do things.” Scampitilla said, “I mean raising money for the philanthropy is always great, but we were just excited to have like a space and a time where people could just come out, be safe, and have an event to have fun.”
ZTA is working to provide events for students to attend despite the limitations in social gatherings. One upcoming event is ‘Choc It Up to Cancer,’ where ZTA will be selling chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels to be delivered the following week, while providing information about breast cancer. All the proceeds that are made from ZTA events go into the ZTA Foundation, which goes to supporting the spread of awareness for and education of breast cancer. ZTA works to spread awareness in a few ways, by including short facts written into each email that ZTA sends to the student body, by writing statistical information in chalk on campus sidewalks, and by handing out small Think Pink ribbons. ZTA hopes that when the Pink Game with football occurs, they will have a mobile mammogram bus to come out to continuing providing opportunities for others to be educated and made aware of the dangers of breast cancer.
The funds raised from each ZTA event go to the ZTA Foundation to support several causes. Part of the proceeds is used to send care baskets to individuals who are fighting breast cancer as well as breast cancer survivors. Another part is used to support leadership and scholarship opportunities for women with breast cancer. ZTA also uses the funds raised to donate money to the groups they partner with, such as the NFL, Bright Pink, and the American Cancer Society. ZTA has fewer opportunities to support breast cancer fighters and survivors due to the inability to host certain traditional events with COVID-19, as well as fewer opportunities to continue spreading awareness and educating students on breast cancer. Cornhole for a Cause, however, provided ZTA with an opportunity to show others their passion for breast cancer education and awareness.
The annual Cornhole for a Cause event may seem like a normal Midwestern pastime, but there is more to this event than just throwing bags at a board. ZTA’s passion for breast cancer awareness and education persevered through this event despite challenges faced by COVID-19 safety regulations. These two objectives were met with the big banners hung at the event to promote “Think Pink” and the information posted within the emails introducing the event. ZTA will continue to support those who are directly impacted by breast cancer and educate others of this disease through other COVID-friendly events in the remainder of the semester.