Laura Pezzini
lpezzini@mustangdaily.net
Cal Poly fraternity Delta Sigma Phi raised $5,500 for the alcohol awareness organization Aware Awake Alive at the fraternity’s golf tournament philanthropy Friday.
“(It) was awesome because it was about $500 more than last year,” Delta Sigma Phi president Sam Tearle said.
In a post-tournament awards ceremony, Aware Awake Alive co-founder Julia Starkey received the check and shared the story of her son, Carson Starkey, a Cal Poly student who died in a Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity hazing incident in 2008.
The philanthropy event was put on by the active Delta Sigma Phi fraternity members as well as Cal Poly Delta Sigma Phi alumni, and was the second annual golf tournament to benefit Aware Awake Alive.
Delta Sigma Phi alumni chairman Jim Larson said the event, held at Monarch Dunes Golf Club in Nipomo, was a huge success.
“This weekend was gorgeous,” Larson said. “And at the end of the day, we were able to increase the donation to Aware Awake Alive.”
Larson said the event started years ago with the tradition of a Delta Sigma Phi alumni golf tournament every year during Cal Poly Open House, which turned into a philanthropy event two years ago when some alumni suggested they use the tournament to benefit a charity.
“We always had a golf tournament, but two years ago we decided to pick a charity and support that,” Larson said. “The guys just stumbled across the Aware Awake Alive initiative that Cal Poly had picked up, and they said that they would like to make this the house’s philanthropy.”
Both alumni and the active members of the fraternity were involved in choosing which charity to benefit. Larson said they chose to collaborate with Aware Awake Alive because of its relation to Cal Poly and because they found the issue of alcohol safety to be pertinent to the fraternity and to the school.
“The partnership has turned out well,” Larson said. “I know it’s a really big deal at Cal Poly about Carson’s passing.”
Thirty golfers participated in the tournament itself, but Larson said that altogether, approximately 120 Delta Sigma Phi alumni participated in the philanthropy by donating or attending the awards ceremony and barbecue following the tournament.
“We had probably 120 or so alumni as well as brothers and guests,” Larson said. “The active chapter went out and really managed to get some activity going from the local community.”
The tournament raised money by having a sponsor for each hole of the golf course. Most of these were local businesses, but alumni and active members were also involved.
“Each hole of the golf tournament was sponsored by either a local business, Delta Sigma Phi alumni or active brothers,” Tearle said.
Larson said the Delta Sigma Phi alumni were happy to see active members taking this initiative for the benefit of the philanthropy.
“It was great to have them not just talk about it with their mouths, but to go out and actually sponsor one of the holes to make a difference,” Larson said.
The nearly 30 sponsors were made up of mainly San Luis Obispo businesses, whose donations ranged up to $1,000.
“Of course, the money comes mainly through the local sponsors,” Larson said.
Larson said the two largest sponsors, each donating $1,000, were the national Delta Sigma Phi fraternity organization and Plante Moran Financial Advisors. In addition, local establishments such as Novo Restaurant Lounge, Enzo’s East Coast Eatery and Campus Bottle Shoppe became involved through donations.
Larson said Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong was also invited to be a part of the event because he is on the Aware Awake Alive board of directors, but was unable to attend.
Tearle said the philanthropy was a success not only in raising money for Aware Awake Alive, but also for spreading the word of alcohol awareness.
“We do care about the cause and we do care about the issue and we do want to make a difference at Cal Poly and in San Luis Obispo, as well as nationally,” Tearle said.
Tearle added that he hopes this support of alcohol awareness has an impact on Cal Poly’s greek system as a whole.
“It was really awesome to see ourselves come together as a fraternity,” Tearle said. “We just really want to prevent any other instances so that we can retain the standard of our greek life here at Cal Poly.”
Delta Sigma Phi philanthropy chair Soroush Sedigh said the philanthropy was a step in tackling the issue of hazing in greek life.
“As a fraternity, we are a huge supporter of the Aware Awake Alive foundation,” Sedigh said. “Alcohol hazing should not be an issue and in our eyes, the Starkeys have done a great job raising awareness, and we just wanted to do our part.”
Sedigh said even with this year’s success, the fraternity is looking to increase its support even more next year.
“Five-thousand five hundred dollars is great, but it would be even better if we raised $10,000, so we’re setting that as our goal for next year,” Sedigh said.
According to Larson, turning an annual entertaining event into a philanthropy to benefit such a relevant cause has succeeded in the past two years in terms of funding and awareness.
“Having a good time and playing golf was just a side effect,” Larson said.