Thousands of Upper Valley residents and hundreds of Dartmouth students walked, biked, rowed and golfed as part of the 33rd annual Prouty on Saturday. The event collected more than $2.62 million on the day of the event for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, director Jean Brown said.
The total surpassed last year’s day-of fundraising by $20,000, Brown said, and may surpass last year’s total fundraising mark of $2.78 million by the fall deadline.
More than 5,000 participants took part in the Prouty this year, including more than 300 Dartmouth students, Brown said. Nearly every student volunteering or participating in the Prouty was affiliated with a Greek organization, Brown said, and these participants raised $100,985, roughly on par with the amounts from previous years.
Alex Kane ’16, Phi Delta Alpha fraternity’s summer vice president, served as the Greek house volunteer coordinator for the event, working with Greek houses and event organizers to fill the event’s volunteering needs. Students served as members of the setup and cleanup crews and manned water stations along the various Prouty routes.
Greek houses also competed for three prizes sponsored by the Class of 1977 — one for the house with the most money raised, one for the house with the most riders in the 100-mile bike ride and one for the house with the most participating volunteers.
While the winners of the second two prizes have not yet been announced, Kane said, Theta Delta Chi fraternity had raised the most money and will likely to win the fundraising prize. The fraternity raised $30,051.37 by press time. Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority collected the next highest amount among Dartmouth Greek houses, raising over $16,000.
Theta Delt members started raising money early and have a history of supporting the Prouty, summer programming chair Alex Rafter ’16 said. Theta Delt members of the Class of 2013 had been especially affected by cancer, he said, and raised more than $50,000 for the 2011 Prouty.
He also added that 13 members of the house — including himself — took part in the 100-mile bike ride, with more members taking part in other events.
“It was a really good bonding experience,” Rafter said. “We stuck together for the whole thing. We’re all closer because of it.”
The inaugural Prouty occurred in 1982 when four nurses raised $4,000 with a 100-mile bike ride to honor their patient, Audrey Prouty. Since then, the event has evolved to include more cycling distances, 5K and 10K walks, rowing and golfing, Brown said.
There has also been a push to include tennis in next year’s Prouty, but there may not be the resources or manpower to support that addition, Brown said.
Psi Upsilon fraternity, in addition to having members solicit donations outside of the Hanover Inn, hosted the first Psi-U-4-U fundraiser. A member of the fraternity would perform any “legal and moral” service for anyone in exchange for $20, the fraternity announced by email.
Ryan Strain ’16, who coordinated Psi U’s fundraising efforts, said he received around 15 good-faith responses along with a significant number of joke requests.
Apart from a request from members of The Tabard coed fraternity to paint part of a wall in their basement, people mostly asked the group to do mundane chores, he said.
“I’ve done so much laundry,” Strain said. “I need to do my own.”
Strain said most entertaining tongue-in-cheek response was from a male student who requested an “upstanding” role model for his younger brother during his visit over the weekend.
Sigma Delta sorority sold Prouty-themed sports bras to raise money for the house’s team. The $20 bras display the slogan “D Supports.”
Summer philanthropy chair Lauren Yeager ’16 said that the she received around 80 orders and will have raised $580, after paying the supplier. The idea was not new, she said, noting that last year’s philanthropy chair also raised funds this way.
Shannon Cleary ’16, vice president of community service for Kappa Delta sorority, said that around 14 of members of her sorority signed up for the event and raised money through their networks of family and friends. Cleary took part in the 5K wooded walk.
“It was really great to get involved with the Upper Valley community,” Cleary said. “It was also nice just to walk with your house.”
