Every spring at Wake Forest, students gather for philanthropy events that raise money and cultivate community. This year, two major fundraising events–Kappa Delta’s (KD) annual Shamrock 5K and Pi Kappa Alpha’s (Pike) One Love 5K–have become defining examples of how Greek life philanthropy extends far beyond mandatory attendance and embodies “Pro Humanitate.” 

The annual KD Shamrock 5K raises money for Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina (PCANC), an organization focused on supporting children and families and promoting positive childhood experiences. The race also goes beyond the sorority and brings together people from across campus.  

KD’s philanthropy co-chair, sophomore Reagan Barrett, oversees logistics, fundraising and outreach for the race. She notes KD invites everyone in the Wake Forest community to attend, including students, faculty, staff, campus organizations and local residents. KD members fundraise by reaching out to friends, family and even local businesses, many of which sponsor prices or donate food and drinks for the race. 

“We’ve traditionally been one of [PCANC’s] top donors every year, if not the top donor…which we’re very proud of because in comparison to some of the other chapters, we are on the smaller side,” Barrett said. “[Everyone] cares about our philanthropy and the event. It brings everyone together.”  

This unity, Barrett says, is impactful. Last year, Barrett worked on the logistics team and had the opportunity to watch as hundreds of Wake Forest community members gathered at the starting line. 

“I remember everyone lining up at the start line and just seeing all these faces that I knew and faces I didn’t know lining up together, just getting their watches ready to start running,” Barrett said. “It was just really special for me to see everyone coming together.” 

For sophomore Eva Tucker, a member of KD, philanthropy became a significant aspect of her Greek life experience. 

“I feel like we do a really good job of making it easy to be involved in philanthropy in a fun way,” Tucker said. “Everybody loves doing it… The main point is the philanthropy but then [there’s the] added bonus of getting to hang out with everybody and having a good time.”

This year’s event will run concurrently with Kappa Delta’s Parents’ Weekend on March 21. Tucker said she is excited that many families will be on campus during the event. 

“A lot of people’s parents are coming and I feel like that’s a great way to get more people involved and raise more money,” Tucker said. 

Tucker added that the intersecting events offer an opportunity to bridge the gap between campus life and home life. 

“In college, you don’t necessarily meet your friend’s parents and your friend’s parents don’t meet your parents,” Tucker said. “So I’m excited for that this year too.”

Part of what makes the event so meaningful is that the event’s earnings go towards a good cause. PCANC has had a longtime relationship with KD who frequently invites representatives from the organization to attend the 5K to speak about their mission and share their appreciation for KD’s support. According to Barrett, knowing about the policies the fundraising goes towards and the impact on the families they are helping makes the event more rewarding. 

“This year specifically with the families, we have received so much positivity, so many donations from everyone’s families,” Barrett said. “Just the joy that it brings… Yes, it’s a lot of work, but we really do enjoy putting on the event because of where it’s going.”  

This year’s Shamrock 5K is projected to achieve similar success as prior years. As of March 20, the day before the 5K, the race had 459 participants and had raised $37,162.01, with donations continuing to rise leading into race day. 

Perhaps most importantly, Barrett stressed that KD’s philanthropy is not meant to be internal. 

“We don’t just do our philanthropy for us and for our organization,” she said. “We want that mission and that culture we hold in our chapter to be spread to everybody else on campus as well. So I think that’s kind of what sets Shamrock 5K apart from some of the other philanthropy events that you’ll see.”

Kappa Delta isn’t the only organization building community via philanthropy. Earlier this semester, the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha organized their first campus-wide 5K in support of the One Love Foundation, a nonprofit focused on relationship abuse prevention and healthy relationship education. Their event, like KD’s, was the result of months of planning, outreach and collaboration between students. 

Sophomore John Tolve, one of Pike’s philanthropy chairs, explained that the fraternity has hoped to work with the One Love Foundation for a long time. 

“We’ve been in talks with the One Love Foundation for a while now,” Tolve said. “We wanted to be a part of their mission because a lot of people here on campus felt like they’re a great organization.” 

Fellow philanthropy chair Matt Kutchma, who worked with One Love before coming to Wake Forest, helped forge a partnership between the two organizations. The fraternity also structured the race with support from the One Love club on campus. However, their original plans to hold the event off campus fell through, and securing a date on campus proved just as complicated. 

“We ran into a bunch of roadblocks that we didn’t want to,” sophomore Alex Prevost, also a philanthropy chair at Pike, said. He added that UPD capacity issues, followed by two weeks of unforeseen snow, forced the race to be postponed multiple times. 

Despite the setbacks, and an early weekend start time of 9:30 a.m., turnout on Feb. 14 was strong. 

“I think all that support, along with the long planning that we had for this event, turned out great,” Prevost said. “We got most of our chapter to sign up, most of the One Love chapters to sign up and even people outside of our organization to sign up.” 

Kutchma also shared his appreciation for participation across campus. 

“It’s always fun to see people getting together up and about in the morning, especially after a Friday night,” Kutchma said. “People don’t always want to get up and it kind of shows dedication for the cause and [that] everyone wanted to be there.” 

The fraternity’s primary goal in partnering with One Love was to spread awareness of the group’s mission. 

“The main goal of One Love is to raise awareness [of] abusive relationships,” Tolve said. “So that was kind of our main message when advertising the event.” 

Looking ahead, all three philanthropy chairs hope to grow the race into a larger annual tradition. 

“We’re always looking to expand the event,” Kutchma said. We want to expand this to other fraternities as well, and other sororities…Even beyond just Greek life.” 

Together, KD’s Shamrock 5K and Pike’s One Love 5K create the opportunity for students to be part of something bigger and form the moments that bring Wake Forest’s motto, “Pro Humanitate,” to life. Whether one is on the logistics side, sending numerous planning emails and overcoming coordination obstacles, or participating in the events, with early morning wake-ups and a race towards the finish line, philanthropy is embedded in the culture of Wake Forest and Greek life on campus. 

“We really do care a lot about our philanthropy,” Barrett said. “And we want everyone to come and be a part of it.”