Eating pies for charity: Annual event to raise money for national philanthropies

By Fink Densford

Most days, eating as much pie as you can only earns you a stomachache. But Thursday it will also help raise money for charity.

A pie-eating contest is one of many activities that will be hosted at the annual Pi-Athlon fundraiser.

Organized by Alpha Omicron Pi and Phi Kappa Tau, the event has run for the last 14 years to help raise money for the Greek houses’ national philanthropies.“The event is a lot of fun, we do five events — pie throwing, wheel-barrow race, pie making, pie eating and pudding wrestling,” said Ashley Westerman, a journalism and political science junior. Westerman, a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, is co-organizing the event with Luke Stephens, a member of Phi Kappa Tau.

Westerman said the competitions are open to the public and winners will be named for each event at the end of the night. She helped run the pie-eating contest last year, and has attended the last three years of Pi-Athlons.

“You don’t know excitement until you see five large fraternity brothers rushing at you to get their face in a pie,” she said.

More than $400 worth of chocolate pudding goes into the event. Pies are made of pudding, whipped cream, piecrusts and cherries, and there is enough left over every year to fill a kiddie pool with pudding for the wrestling.

“Everyone gets involved in the pudding wrestling; we are all covered in pudding at the end of the night,” Westerman said. “I was actually filming the event last year for a news cast when I got pulled in. I had no idea what I was getting into.”

She said after the wrestling, there is traditionally an all-out fight with pudding, getting everyone messy for a good cause. But Westerman said the focus is not just on the fun, it is on the charities.

Alpha Omicron Pi’s portion of the charity money goes to helping fund arthritis research.

“Arthritis cripples millions of Americans, including women, children and men every year,” Westerman said. “Probably every woman in our sorority will have arthritis later in life. I have some arthritis problems already.”

Last year, the Pi-Athlon raised $6,000 in support of arthritis research. This year, Phi Kappa Tau’s national philanthropy will also be getting funds from the event for its charity, The Association of Hole in the Wall Camps.

Stephens said The Association of Hole in the Wall Camps is a group of camps that provide free summer camp to chronic and terminally ill children. Stephens recently volunteered in one of the camps.

“It was one of the toughest and most rewarding two weeks of my life — you come back a changed person,” Stephens said.

The camps have full medical staffs, making it accessible to children who would otherwise never be able to leave the hospital.

“These camps are the only way these children get to spend a week out of the hospital,” Stephens said. “One of their mottos is ‘Play is the best medicine.’ When they come in, they think they’ve given up, and when they leave, they’re all smiles.”

The Pi-Athlon will be held Thursday at Haggin Field. Registration starts at 4 p.m. and the events start at 4:30 p.m.