WATER WAR

WKU’s Phi Gamma Delta, Fiji, hosted Bowling Green’s largest water balloon fight on Friday night to support relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey.

WKU’s South Campus Intramural Fields were filled with hundreds of students and approximately 50,000 water balloons on Friday night. For $10, students were able to participate in the water balloon fight. Fiji also kept track of how many tickets each sorority bought and rewarded the winning Greek organization with a social event.

In the past, Fiji has typically hosted philanthropic events for the relief of Alzheimer’s disease. They have taken a new, temporary direction for the victims of the devastation caused by Harvey.

Harvey hit Houston, Texas, especially hard, causing damage and flooding throughout the city at the end of August.

David Owens, a WKU graduate from Houston, said his family and friends are facing difficulties after the hurricane. Owens said his mom was “stuck at work for a week” during the hurricane and flooding.

“Luckily, my house is fine,” Owens said. “But I’ve heard from friends whose houses have been completely destroyed.”

After hearing about the water balloon fight, Owens said it was “pretty cool to see local organizations make a difference.”

Will Scott, a sophomore and Fiji’s philanthropy chairman, said the fraternity felt like Houston is where the money is needed right now.

Carson Ball, a senior in Fiji who came up with the idea for the water balloon fight, said he hopes to ease the financial burden caused by the hurricane devastation.

“Whenever we started this idea we thought we would donate the money to the Alzheimer’s Association like we usually do, until all the stuff started going on with Houston,” Ball said. “And so we’ve decided to donate all the proceeds to victims of Hurricane Harvey.”

All week leading up to the water balloon fight, sororities and fraternities across campus hosted contests with each other to see who could fill up the most water balloons for the fight.

Amanda Maceyko, a freshman pledge of Chi Omega sorority, said she had fun filling up all the balloons with her sorority sisters.

“We filled about six hundred balloons up with water,” Maceyko said. “While the fraternity we were paired with counted only five hundred.”

Approximately 50,000 water balloons were used in the water balloon fight on Friday night.

Sophomore Kam Dawson, a member of Sigma Chi fraternity, said he worked hard to make sure things were prepared for Friday night.

“I was physically exhausted after hours upon hours of filling these balloons up to help this cause,” Dawson said. “There were days I felt like I was honestly going to pass out. This is not your average charity event.”

Teams were formed for the fight, with each team wearing a different color. Junior Michael Cooper, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, participated in the fight.

“I literally got drenched from head to toe,” Cooper said. “But Fiji did a fantastic job with this event. It was such a success, and I will definitely be back next year; hopefully for a separate cause.”

Reporter John Singleton can be reached at 270-745-6011 and .[email protected]