When students come together and unite against a cause, it is a pretty damn cool thing. This past Thursday, 52 management students came together for an annual event called Chillin for Charity. It’s an event where students raise money, and then jump into an outdoor pool filled with ice water in support of the United Way of Lethbridge. It is organized by the JDC West club, and I am immensely proud to say that I was a part of the event this year.
Helping in the planning of the event was a great experience. It is crazy how many stakeholders are involved in holding an event on campus. We had utilities, facilities, grounds, CRDC, housing, the Students’ Union, Sodexo, Risk and Safety, and many other campus groups involved in the implementation of the event. We set up the hot tub the night before, and began filling the pool at 7AM (it took 2 hours to fill!!), so it was an early morning for sure!
The jumps began at 11AM, and we had several celebrity jumpers! Marketing professor Mike Madore kicked off the event, followed by Dean Ellis of the Faculty of Management, Dr. Andy Hakin, the VP Academic for the University, and Dave Adams, the mens Basketball coach jump. Of course, all the JDC West delegates jumped as well, and sported sexy costumes while doing so!
In the end, we raised over $20,000 for the United Way! The event would not have been possible without all the help from the campus community, as well as all of the raffle item donors – the Bookstore, Free and Easy tours, Boston Pizza, Staples, and Studio 54!
Thanks so much to everyone who was a part of this fabulous day!