A little friendly competition goes a long way toward helping others. Members of the Sigma Chi fraternity at UD along with five sororities raised $3,500 during the 2006 Sigma Chi Derby Days, a contest between campus sororities to raise the most money to benefit their specific charities as well as Sigma Chi's philanthropy, Children's Miracle Network.

The competition, which ran from March 26 to April 1, also included collections of donated food and clothing and contributions of over 2000 hours of community service. Over 250 bags of clothing and 300 boxes of canned food were donated to St. Vincent dePaul.

Members of the competing fraternities and sororities collected 'points' by volunteering time at local charities and agencies such as St. Vincent Hotel, The Dayton Humane Society, St. Leonard's retirement community and Heartland Nursing Home. According to Greek Leadership Chairman John LeFrois, Students hand decorated and personalized cards that were then given to children at Dayton Children's Hospital.

Sigma Chi was able to give $5,000 to the Dayton area Children's Miracle Network by putting together $1,000 raised from Derby Days with $4,000 raised during their Parents' Weekend Auction earlier in March. Children's Miracle Network has been an official beneficiary of proceeds from Sigma Chi community service projects across the nation since 1992. To date, Sigma Chi alumni and undergraduate chapters have raised more than $4.2 million on its behalf.

The rest of the money raised by Derby Days was divided between the sororities' charities: Camp Friendship, Links to Literacy/Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation and the Girl Scouts of America.

Derby Days was founded on the campus of UCLA in the 1940's and remains one of Sigma Chi's primary ways of raising money and awareness as well as providing volunteer support for philanthropic ventures all over the world.