Phi Mu Madness

Writer: Ansley G. Editor: Grace C. and Kyla M.

The women of Phi Mu were very excited to put on their philanthropy event, Mu Madness, a basketball tournament to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network. On Friday, March 25 the event took place at the Tully Gymnasium. Children’s Miracle Network is a nonprofit organization that raises money for children’s hospitals in the United States. The organization treats over a million kids a day and aims to save and improve the lives of as many people as possible.

This event has been a long time coming as it was initially planned in the Spring of 2020 but had to get canceled due to COVID-19. “This was not the first idea of the event, but it is the first time we had it,” Lilli S. says.

Lilli, Phi Mu’s Spring Philanthropy Chair, planned the entirety of the event with the help of her assistants and Mei H., the Vice President of External Affairs. Putting together this event wasn’t easy. “In the beginning, it was difficult to nail down a location and to get teams registered,” Lilli says.

Lilli and her team went door-to-door, knocking on every Fraternity house to advertise the event, which brought in a lot of teams. They had 24 teams in a bracket plus a few alternate teams. “We wanted to have a couple of alternate teams in case teams didn’t show up, which did happen,” Lilli says.

The team paid a $50 registration fee; however since the game was five versus five, each team member had to pay $10 individually to participate. The competition was in full force at the event as a $500 prize was on the line. The lucky team, Big Ballers, took home the prize.

Phi Mu charged $5 for an admission ticket to watch the tournament as another way to fundraise. “We even had a deal going on that an $8 ticket also included a Chick-Fil-A meal that we had catered,” Lilli says.

However, their fundraising efforts were not over when the final buzzer sounded. After the tournament was over, they also announced their 2022 Miracle Man. “Miracle Man” is a competition that lasts around two weeks, during which any nominated man of the IFC community fundraises for Children’s Miracle Network. Sisterhood votes and the highest fundraiser determined the winner. Carson H. won the competition and raised over $4,000. “We crowned him in front of everyone, it was really cute,” Lilli says.

Ultimately, Phi Mu raised an outstanding $13,480 from their event and competition.

Lilli hopes this event will become annual and even has ideas for future Mu Madness tournaments. “I think it would be really fun if every team had a coach or if we thought of more ways to include the viewers,” Lilli says. After a two-year delay, Mu Madness was a successful event to say the least.