University of Wisconsin students gathered Saturday to donate money and test their chili cooking chops at Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Chili for Chile earthquake relief event.
The event raised money for Chile relief to be donated through B’nai B’rith International. AEPi President Jeff Herscott said the event raised $650 through selling bowls of chili for $5 and sodas for $1, as well as personal donations from AEPi members.
Herscott said the event greatly exceeded his goals.
“I’m just really glad that a lot of people showed up,” he said.
The fraternity also plans to donate the leftover sodas to a local food pantry, Herscott added.
The chili was made by fraternity members and donated by Amy’s, The Memorial Union and Fresh Madison Market.
AEPi Philanthropy Chair and UW sophomore DJ Kornblau said the event was planned very quickly. He said their philanthropy contract was put into Interfraternity Council Tuesday and was easily approved.
He said the fraternity immediately knew they wanted to do a fundraiser for Chile relief.
“Chili for Chile was a catchy title, so we kind of ran with it,” Kornblau said.
Kornblau estimated around 150 to 200 people attended the event, which began at 3 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., although most of the chili was gone, people continued to roam in and buy bowls.
In addition to selling bowls of chili, the event also hosted a chili cook-off. UW sophomores Lisa Murchie, Ryan Hudnall, a former on-camera reporter for The Badger Herald, and Andrew Steckler won the cook-off with their Dirty South Arkansas chili, the recipe for which was provided by Hudnall’s grandmother.
Herscott said he hoped the event would show AEPi is truly a philanthropic association that strives to do good for the community.
“We’re trying to show the Madison community that we’re not the fools we appeared to be in the paper,” Herscott said.
He added in light of the fraternity’s recent suspension, he thinks IFC and Judicial Board are looking for them to stay out of trouble, which he believes will not be a problem for the fraternity.
