Lambda Chi Alpha celebrates 14th Pumpkin Bash from KentWired.com on Vimeo.

Kent State’s Lambda Chi Alpha raised money to donate food to Feeding America at its Philanthropy event, Pumpkin Bash, on Sunday afternoon in Manchester Field.

It was a day of several activities, including bobbing for gourds, obstacle courses, dizzy bat, relay sack races, pumpkin pong, banner contests and many more.

“It’s just fun to see this many people gather around just to support the cause that you care about,” said Bryant Allbrittin, a senior digital sciences major and Lambda Chi Alpha president.

Akron Canton Foodbank is Lambda Chi Alpha’s designated food bank because it has a relationship with Feeding America.

“I have gone to the food drive and worked within the Akron food pantry. It’s a pretty rewarding feeling, so I would love to see the overall outcome, see how it affects everyone in the long run,” said Evan Hayslett, a sophomore architectural studies and member of Lambda Chi Alpha.

“Last year we had 33,000 pounds. Our external vice president (Tyler Andrews) who does philanthropy and community service has a goal to raise over 40,000 pounds of food this year,” Allbrittin said.

At this year’s event, there was a great turnout and the fraternity received 1,250 cans of food in eight hours — enough for 800 meals — according to the LCA Pumpkin Bash Twitter account.

“I’d say Pumpkin Bash 2016 is a huge success and I’d say a lot of people came to show support,” said Nayan Jaitly, a junior entrepreneurship major and member of Lambda Chi. “It was a great turn out.”

Allbrittin described the fraternity as one “that tries to help people through our core values; one of which is service and leadership which is why we are doing Pumpkin Bash.”

“It’s outreach for the community and the fostering of men on this campus and making them into … something better than themselves,” Allbrittin said.

Although there is a certain community service requirement for Greek Life members, the community is very supportive of one another.

“We try to participate in as many sorority and fraternity events as we can because we like to show our support for them so that they can come out and show their support for us too,” Allbrittin said.

For the members of the fraternity, Pumpkin Bash is a rewarding experience.

“Just being outside and seeing everyone just having a good time is probably one of my favorite moments and seeing all of the silly competitions,” Andrews said. “It’s a whole lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it in the end. Just seeing how much money we raise and seeing how happy it makes the food banks is amazing … knowing that we are able to feed so many people.”

Another member of Lambda Chi Alpha, Brennan Macaluso said, “It’s the biggest crowd we’ve had — at least since I’ve been here — and they’ve been loving it the whole time. It’s really awesome to see everybody get behind such a great cause and it’s really nice to see everyone excited about it.”

Brittney Prather is the Greek life reporter, contact her at [email protected].