Chi Omega is asking students to “Wake Up for a Wish” and eat a pancake breakfast this Saturday.
Wake Up for a Wish is an annual pancake breakfast put on by Chi Omega to raise money for their national philanthropy Make-A-Wish. This year’s breakfast will be held at the Chi Omega house Saturday, before the Texas A&M game. The $5 all-you-can-eat breakfast is tentatively scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon.
“The turn out has been great in the past,” said Adelaide Burrow, a philanthropy assistant in Chi Omega and a sophomore majoring in early childhood education. “It’s a great deal, $5 for all-you-can-eat pancakes while you help a great foundation.”
Chi Omega partners with Make-A-Wish to raise funds and awareness to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.
“Make-A-Wish uses the money donated to them to grant wishes of many children,” said Brandyn Dupree, UA Chi Omega philanthropy chair and a senior majoring in nursing. “With the amount of money that our chapter donates each year, we are able to grant multiple wishes for children across our state. Our goal by partnering with them is to provide strength, hope and joy to these children and their families along their journey.”
Last year, a wish recipient named MaKenzey attended the breakfast with her family.
“Last year we were very lucky, and got to meet MaKenzey and her family for the UT game,” Burrow said. “They came for the pancake breakfast, and we were able to get their family tickets to the game.”
Even the football team got involved.
“The football team all wore bracelets that said ‘Cheering for MaKenzey,’” said Katie Smitherman, a philanthropy assistant in Chi Omega and a sophomore majoring in business management. “So it was really cool to get not only Chi O and the football team, but also the whole campus involved.”
“I believe a rough estimate of about $7,000 went to granting MaKenzey’s wish of sending her and her family to Hawaii, and the rest of the money went to Make-A-Wish Alabama to sponsor things that they’re doing, to sponsor other wishes. The remainder of the funds are divided up to grant other wishes and also to help the foundation. We give specifically to the Alabama chapter of the Make-A-Wish foundation.”
This year they have elevated their goal to $50,000. During the breakfast, the band Koa will play and there will be a pancake eating contest where the winner gets a trophy.
“In the past we have had anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 people attend our breakfast,” Dupree said. “This year with a new house, on a big football game day, live music from the band Koa and much more, we hope to reach our goal of raising $50,000 for Make-A-Wish Alabama.”
“It starts out a little slow,” Smitherson said. “In the past the breakfast ended at noon, but we still had a line out the door around 1 p.m. So it never really ends on time. It’s great.”
The girls have not yet received word on who they’ll be sponsoring this year.
“My favorite thing about the breakfast would have to be the actual day of the event,” Dupree said. “So much hard work and effort will have been put in to this breakfast, to see it all come together as one event will be great. But more than that, going throughout the day with hundreds of people coming through our house and supporting our philanthropy is the most rewarding. To see people be excited about a philanthropy event that we care so much about is the most rewarding. Everyone present that day will make a difference in a child’s life, and that is the reason for it all.”
