In 1975, the first Special Olympics of Arizona (SOAZ) competition was held. It consisted of a single-day track and field event with 100 athletes and 20 volunteers. The SOAZ has grown since their inaugural games and now host more than 21,460 athletes every year.
Such immense growth creates an important need for funding these events. That’s where NAU’s Epsilon Tau chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order stepped in to help. Mac Shattuck, the current KA chapter president at NAU, and his fraternity brothers decided that their fundraising efforts this year would go toward supporting the SOAZ.
“Our national philanthropy is Muscular Dystrophy Association but the brothers of Epsilon Tau here at NAU felt that Special Olympics touched us closer to home,” Shattuck said. “We all felt a deeper connection to the Special Olympics foundation, and decided to donate to them this year.”
Shattuck and his brothers had a goal to raise $20,000 for SOAZ. Shattuck, along with fraternity brothers Dylan Vital, Michael Norton, Brendan Transier, Jack Sullivan and other members of Epsilon Tau, planned events like percentage nights, coin wars, trivia night and a flag football game to help raise money. Their efforts garnered between 50 and 300 attendees for each event and the fraternity started to see a real increase in donations.
When the fundraisings events were over, Shattuck and all of Epsilon Tau surpassed their goal and raised a total of $32,500 for SOAZ.
“Our goal for these events were to raise as much money for Special Olympics of Arizona as possible. With the help of NAU Greek life, families, friends and the flagstaff public, we well exceeded our goal,” said Shattuck. “Helping the community means everything to my brothers and me. Our flagstaff community is the backbone for everything that we can do. This is our home, and we do everything in our power to take care of our beautiful mountain town and the people in it.”
Carsen Jones | NAU Communications