University Chronicle

Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Nicole Bock Jeff Pratt, dressed in a gorilla suit, and Chris Winkels show off the igloo during the Freeze-A-Thon. The Freeze-A-Thon took place outside Atwood. The event was conducted Monday through Friday.

It was cold last week.

Did that matter to the members of Phi Kappa Tau and Kappa Phi Omega?

Not one bit, as they teamed up for the annual Freeze-a-thon in the Atwood Mall last week.

Members sat on couches, chairs and clung onto numerous blankets to raise money for terminally ill children.

Fraternity member John McMahon braved the single-digit temperatures Friday to help children raise money.

"It goes to our national philanthropy, Hole in the Wall camp, to give the opportunity for children to spend the week as normal children, but still receive the medical care they need, instead of sitting in a hospital," he said.

The camp, created by actor Paul Newman, gives children the opportunity to help terminally ill children spend a week away from the hospital.

It helps families that can't afford camp because the hospital bills are too high.

This year, the annual event raised a little more than $2,500 with people giving whatever they could.

"We've had rather successful years in the past," fraternity member Keith Shey said during his shift in the cold Friday. "As it keeps growing, more people are aware of what we are doing."

Members signed up for different four-hour shifts during the week.

On four of the nights, they slept outside. Some even slept in the igloo they constructed.

"We've had to cancel one overnight because it was -16 and that's a little unsafe," Shey said.

To pass the time, members played games and built forts.

"We have extreme lawn golf where we throw it 30 feet, we built an igloo and played some football all night," McMahon said. "We have the whole campus to ourselves from midnight to 6 a.m. and we pretty much do whatever we want."

Past years included having a television outside and playing a game of hockey in the mall.

McMahon said the week changes every year to try to accommodate schedules and try to avoid extreme temperatures.

Many people and businesses have shown support. Atwood let the Freeze-a-thon members use tables and chairs. Sodexho also brought hot chocolate.

Even in the extreme temperatures, McMahon said he didn't mind braving the cold weather.

"It's not that bad and it's for a good cause," he said.

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