On Wednesday (March 29) Chi Kappa Rho hosted their annual March MADDness tournament at the north campus gymnasium. The event was a basketball tournament in which players must donate five dollars in order to enter and then all of the money is donated to MADD. MADD, standing for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is an organization dedicated to ending drunk driving.

When the sisters of Chi Kappa Rho first came up with the idea of March MADDness they were looking for a big event to promote their philanthropy, MADD.
Abbey Auger said, “We decided that a sports tournament would help bring the most people out and get the most interest.”

The group ultimately decided on basketball for their sports tournament because of the fun play on words with their philanthropy.

March MADDness has required a fair amount of planning and work from the sisters, as they have had to contact all of the right people in order to be able to use North Campus. The sisters also had tables in Bartels for a few weeks as they tried to spread the word about their event as well as encourage people to sign up teams. The first year that March MADDness happened, the group was able to get three teams to sign up. This year four teams signed up for the tournament and competed to win.

The teams involved this year were Squeaky Heelys, which was a group of Kappa Kappa Psi brothers, APO Eagles, a group of Alpha Phi Omega brothers, Average Bros, a group of mostly Sigma Chi brothers, and Afternoon Delight, another group of mostly Sigma Chi brothers. At the end of the tournament, Afternoon Delight were crowned as the winners of the tournament.

“March MADDness helped bring together people from all different RSO’s for a great cause,” said sister Olivia Quagliani.

Through Chi Kappa Rho’s fundraising efforts this year, they were able to raise $1,078 to dona
te to MADD. This was from the MADD walk, an event in the fall, as well as from their March MADDness tournament. Over the past few years, the sisters have been able to raise a little over $3 thousand for MADD and according to Auger, “hope to raise even more in the future.”

March MADDness was cosponsored by the University of New Haven’s Pep Band who helped Chi Kappa Rho by aiding in setting up the event as well as by providing music during the game.

“Whether you were watching or playing, everyone had an awesome time,” said Quagliani.

March MADDness is not the only event that Chi Kappa Rho does for their philanthropy, they also attend MADD walks which are walks to raise awareness and money for MADD and to work together to end drunk driving. The sisters also recently attended an event called “Skate for Leah” which is an ice skating event put on in honor of a girl named Leah who was killed by a drunk driver.

The next MADD walk is on April 29 in Hamden, CT and it costs $25 to register.