Finding a Cure for Type 1 Diabetes

For three years now the brothers of Delta Epsilon Psi, Rho Colony have helped The Fresh Market store in their annual Fresh Market Sidewalk Sale, which is dedicated to finding a cure for type 1 diabetes. The Fresh Market, located at 4120 Northwest 16th Boulevard in Gainesville, FL, is a local gourmet supermarket that specializes in offering fresh, unique, and hard to find products.

This year, Fresh Market hosted their 17th Annual Sidewalk Sale on Friday, September 9 through Sunday, September 11 from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Hot dogs, root beer floats, ice cream sundaes, and gourmet cookies were all offered in front of the store in exchange for a $2 donation to JDRF. All food products sold were supplied by The Fresh Market store and 100 percent of the money raised over the three days were directly donated to help find a cure for diabetes and its complications. In addition, The Fresh Market also ran a two week “sneaker sale” campaign that ran through September 11, where customers who did not want any food could still support the cause by purchasing paper “sneakers” for a $1 minimum donation at The Fresh Market’s checkout counters.

The brothers of Rho Colony split into shifts of 2-4 for the three day event and ensured that representatives were there at all times. Four 2 hour shifts were assigned each day to fulfill the eight hour workday. As volunteers, brothers helped grill hotdogs, make the root beer floats, and create the sundaes for customers. The colony also implemented new ideas to the cause to help generate more publicity and options. This year, food samples were given to customers both inside and outside the store to attract more customers and gain additional supporters for the event. The option to even donate or purchase items with a card was given to those who didn’t have cash. This way customers could first shop around, then contribute to the cause at the same time of check out and show their receipt to the stand outside to pick up their purchase.

In our three day effort, the brothers of Rho Colony helped raise over $1,658 in proceeds for JDRF and completed a total of 54 service hours. The program as a whole, including both sidewalk sale and “sneaker sale” campaign raised a total of $3,317 for the cause. The colony is very proud of the successful turnout and looks forward in helping The Fresh Market and JDRF with their next sidewalk sale in 2012.

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Vikram Chadda
Rho Colony