Kappa Sigma Raises $75,000 for Batson’s Children Hospital in Jackson

The Delta Xi chapter of Kappa Sigma at University of Mississippi raised an unprecedented amount of $75,000 for Batson Children’s Hospital.

The Delta Xi chapter of Kappa Sigma at the University of Mississippi met an unprecedented goal: raising $75,000 for the Batson’s Children Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi.

The chapter’s philanthropy chair, Will Barnett said $75,000 was the highest amount the Kappa Sigma men at the University of Mississippi have ever raised.

Barnett said, “Last year we raised $60,000, but this year we were all extremely motivated to make an even bigger impact for Batson Children’s Hospital and on campus for the Greek community.”

He explained that a large majority of fundraising is from within the chapter. With “roughly 200 active members,” each man was responsible for fundraising $300.

The fraternity’s president, Davis Bittner, said the members raised money by selling ads to businesses, inviting other fraternities to bid to play in the tournament and working for the donations from parents and alumni.

The campus sororities also helped the Kappa Sigma meet their fundraising goal through the week-long Penny Drive, a coin-based donation.

Barnett said, “From three days of constant fundraising from a penny drive outside the Student Union, we raised a collective total of over $10,000.”

Barnett and Bittner were both thankful for many other generous donors for their support of the event. “Without them we wouldn’t have had the outcome we had,” Barnett said.

The president pointed out that during planning, the fraternity had a goal of $70,000 which they surpassed by $5,000 more.

Bittner said, “I couldn’t be more proud of our chapter for the hard work everyone put in to raise this money. I think the Greek Community as a whole tends to only get publicity when something negative has happened but it’s important for people to realize there are a lot of positive things the community does that goes unnoticed. This money was raised with the help of all of the sororities on campus as well as the Sigma Chi and Sigma Nu fraternities.”

Since Barnett is a UM junior earning his BFA in Studio Art, he is transferring to Savannah College of Art and Design to pursue career opportunities in the fall. He wanted to leave an impact for his fraternity before leaving.

He said, “I am extremely humbled by this entire fundraiser. I have been working quite hard since December to make sure we do everything correctly and to the best of our ability. I find that making sure every single active member is on the same page and truly understands the importance of this fundraiser. I made it my duty to make this event one for the decade for Kappa Sigma. I made it my goal since last spring that I would help make $75,000 a reality. It was an exciting and exhausting process, but I am honored to say I had a part in this philanthropy while I was here.”

The fraternity has not yet crowned its Diamond Days queen, who is selected based on how much money her sorority donated, due to inclement weather. Bittner said the cancellation of the event prevented them from raising even more money, too.

Barnett said, “Due to the cancellation of the actual event because of bad weather, our Diamond Days is in the process of being rescheduled. I will respectively decline to answer who is the ‘Diamond Days Queen’ is at this time because I want it to be a surprise at the rescheduled event in the next week or two. All the sororities were extremely grateful in donating this year. I was absolutely blown away from the amount of money they gave to our Diamond Days philanthropy. I can’t thank the sororities enough for all that they did for us this spring.”

Overall, the Batson Children’s Hospital will benefit from the amount of money raised. According to Barnett, the Kappa Sigma at University of Mississippi has been one of its biggest contributors in the past years.

Callie Daniels Bryant is the senior managing editor at HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.

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