No Shave for St. Jude
Now comes the time of the year when beard-growing reaches its peak. The weather is turning, and the thought of depriving yourself from some extra facial warmth seems foolish. It's no coincidence that the beginning of beard-growing season times up with the cool weather, so if you're going to protect yourself from winter, you might as well save some children at the same time.
The premise of No Shave for St. Jude is to raise as much money as you possibly can to look as much like a lumberjack as you possibly can. If you're already a lumberjack, I like your chances.
To get started, spread the word about your intentions. Most of the men on your campus will probably grow their beards out in November anyway, so harness that interaction into something positive and helpful. Put up posters. Send emails to the other fraternities. Sit at a table in your cafeteria and badger every male you see. Get creative, and let the men on your campus know that their lack of grooming effort can help out an excellent cause.
Once you've notified your campus, start soliciting donations. You can set up your web page and solicit donations. Any donation amount is welcome, and it doesn't cost an individual much to make a big difference.
Just think. If you can get 10 family members, friends, etc. to commit to a dollar a day and you make it an entire month without shaving, you just raised $300 on your own for the children of St. Jude. Now if you get just 20 other men on your sprawling campus to solicit those same funds, your chapter will come out of the month $6000 ahead on your goal for St. Jude. And all you had to do was sit on your couch and grow hair.
Now, it all sounds nice and clean on paper, but we know the work put into something like this can be tedious. Here are some tips to help you along the way:
-Encourage sororities to get involved. Ask each sorority to sponsor one man and pay for his entire month's hair growth. It doesn't have to be a Teke – it can be a Greek man, a non-Greek, a professor, a coach, really any man on your campus. Ask them to make a slightly larger donation, say $5-10 a day, and recognize the sorority who raises the most money with a token of appreciation at the end of the month.
-Hold an awards session at the end of the beard-growing period. Every man on your campus who participated gets up on stage, and the audience votes on different categories of beard. Award prizes to the nastiest beard, the best-groomed, the longest, most creative, etc. At that point, you can also recognize the top money-raisers and give one big thank you to your campus and community for their support.
-Invite your campus to a shaving party at the end of the time period. All beards get up on stage, and in the center of that stage is a stool, a barber's apron and a set of hair clippers. Audience members bid on the right to shave beards, and the highest bidder on each gets to go on stage and take care of things right then and there. Play music, raffle off prizes, and make it fun, all the while raising more and more money for St. Jude.
-Work with a local barber shop to provide discounted clean-shaves to participants at the end of the month. Instead of the growers all crowding in front of the bathroom mirror at 12:01 a.m. on December 1st, offer them the chance to go to a civilized shaving oasis where sharp blades, hot foam and cool towels provide them with a much-needed moment of relaxation.
-Email, Tweet, Facebook, Instagram your pictures to TKE. We will share our favorites and help get the word out about your cause.
Once the time is up, make sure funds have been collected and watch the numbers on your chapter module grow. Should you collect any physical monies, write a check to St. Jude and be sure to include your chapter and school name so you are credited properly.
For further information, please contact:
Alex Swenson
Alumni and Volunteer Coordinator
317.872.6533 Ext. 225
aswenson@tke.org