We all want to make a difference in our community and be a champion for causes we believe in. The collaboration between our community and collegiate chapter members to raise money for the kids and families at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital exemplifies this. The Zombie 5K Run was no small event, and the tireless dedication by ESA Beta Tau member and treasurer Patti Palmer and University of Missouri collegiate chapter president Will Cooper made it all come together.

"... the Beta Tau chapter started working on the 5K first and reached out to us through official ESA channels for our help" Will said.

The event was a joint effort between the chapters, "I got in contact with Will and we had dinner and he wanted to be apart of it" Patti said. Each chapter was well endowed with responsibilities. The Zombie 5K raised $2,337 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The run and costume contest was held at Twin Lakes Recreational Area in Colombia, MO. The family-friendly area was able to facilitate those that participated and their children in a known, fun location. "I think it is important to give back to your local community. Columbia offers a lot to people who go to school and live here" Will said.

The Zombie 5K was featured on Vox Magazine's website with a video they made to capture the event. "This has been months of work, preparation nd advertising. All the details, there were a lot more details involved in something of this scale so that's been a bit of a challenge for organization but it's a good challenge" Will said.

The chapters really wanted a great outcome for the kids, and did everything they could to promote and make the event fun for everyone! "It was much of a success, people really enjoyed it and the collegiate chapter got in there... they put over 600 fliers in dorm mailboxes" Patti said.

"The event itself was a success... the people that came really enjoyed it, we had some great costumes for the costume contest and perfect weather" Will said.

At the end of the day, the chapters worked well together. There is no limit to what our amazing chapters can accomplish, especially with a collaboration between chapters of all generations.

Patti and Will each had wonderful sentiment to share about working together. Each hopes to continue their relationship and work together on future projects. "They are trying to do a Hope for Heroes project and let us know when it is so we can be a part of it... it was a good mesh and we hope to have them at our Christmas party in December" Patti said of the collegiate chapter.


Click here to learn more about planning your own all ages charity event!