How does a chapter of fewer than ten brothers raise more than $20,000 a year to support its philanthropic efforts? It all begins with the dedication of a faithful few members and a supportive partnership with other campus fraternity and sorority chapters.
The Sigma Nu chapter at Southern Utah University began their annual haunting event in 1989 (probably the same year some of the current candidates were born). Just four years ago, the chapter moved to a new location—a local abandoned hospital building—which they convert every October into Cedar City's well-known "Haunted Hospital." The town of 30,000 isn't their only prospective audience. Sigma Nu's Haunted Hospital has become one of the largest haunted events in Southern Utah, with word-of-mouth drawing visitors from neighboring towns, including Las Vegas, Nev. (about 2 and a half hours away) and reaching as far north as Logan, Ut., more than 300 miles away. They also use Facebook and MySpace to publicize the event and have even had visitors from San Diego, Calif.
"Every year the community expects it and can't wait for it to begin," says Brandon Roper, Commander of the Lambda Iota Chapter. It's Brandon's fourth year in the chapter and on the Executive Council, and he plans to run for a second term as Commander.
Roper says the Brothers pull together to make this event a reality every year, engaging their entire candidate class (currently 13 members) and seeking volunteers from the other fraternity and two sororities on campus. The Haunted Hospital has 15 rooms in all. Each sorority takes over a room, while the Sigma Nu actives and candidates divide up into small groups of 2-3. With help from their chapter advisor, girlfriends and a few community members, each small group takes responsibility for decorating and haunting a room.
They stick to the hospital theme as much as possible, which provides gruesome opportunities to include coffins, embalming tables and other doctor-related ideas. According to Roper, one of the creepiest rooms so far this year is known as the "Scarecrow Room," located in the middle of the hospital.
The Haunted Hospital, which takes about 15 minutes to walk through, is open during the last two weeks of October, and this year has been one of their busiest in history. It's not only the biggest haunted house in Southern Utah, it's also the most affordable. The entry fee is $8.00 with a $2.00 discount per person for those who bring a can of food. Each year the chapter donates 5,000 - 8,000 lbs of canned food to a local food bank as a result of the Haunted Hospital.
While the chapter sees the Haunted Hospital as one way they can serve the local community, the results of their fundraising efforts are poured right back out just half a year later to fund the chapter's well-known community-wide Easter Egg Hunt, one of the largest in the western United States. They give out 20,000 eggs and 150 prizes each year. "When we do events, we definitely do them big," remarks Roper. The rest of the funds support the chapter's Relay For Life team and Subs for Santa, in which chapter members step in for Santa Claus to provide gifts of clothing and toys for underprivileged children in the community.
How does such a small chapter produce such successful events? "Before every event we get together and talk about how we can improve on what we've done in the past, and how to make it bigger and better. We are really organized in how we go about doing that, and we spend a lot of time on it," says Roper. Additionally, they listen to their audience to ensure that the event is public-friendly. "If you listen to what the community wants, it's not difficult to make it a big event. You have to know your audience and you have to market yourself. It's just like a business, and our business is philanthropy. It's a lot of hard work, and chapter members do get burned out, but it's really rewarding at the end of the month to realize you raised close to $30,000," says Roper. That's what they're expecting this year after grossing $24,000 last year, $23,000 the year before and $19,000 the first year they haunted the hospital.
While the owner has other plans for the old hospital building in the coming year, Sigma Nu is confident they will find a new location to haunt. They say a change of venue shouldn't stand in their way of providing an event that not only serves the public, but also paves the way for other philanthropic endeavors.
