On Friday, Mar. 12, the University’s chapter of Kappa Delta hosted a cornhole tournament in order to raise money for its philanthropy, Prevent Child Abuse America. 

More than 75 four-person teams played in the tournament on the University’s Campus Green, and the event as a whole raised more than $4000 for PCAA. 

Kappa Delta focuses on building confidence within individuals, and the efforts of PCAA and the local chapter of Mission Kids achieves this for children around the country. 

The mission of PCAA is “to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation’s children” with a vision of “a world where all children grow up happy, healthy and prepared to succeed in supportive families and communities,” according to the official website.

It carries out its work through home visits, research, public policy efforts, public awareness and engagement.

“Kappa Delta works to raise money so that PCAA has the funds to be able to do all of its amazing work,” said Kappa Delta’s VP-Community Service Julia Totoro.

“Since 1981, Kappa Delta has been a proud supporter of Prevent Child Abuse America, an organization founded by the late Donna Stone, one of our own Kappa Delta sisters,” according to the national Kappa Delta website. “To date, Kappa Delta has donated more than $26 million to prevent child abuse in our country.” 

Kappa Delta chapters across the country hold philanthropy events called Shamrock to raise money for national and local child abuse prevention efforts, and it’s up to each individual chapter to decide what the event will be. The events around the nation vary from sports tournaments to fun runs to wing contests to fashion shows.

At the University, each woman in Kappa Delta is a captain of a four-person cornhole team, with all of the players being from outside of the sorority.

“Playing cornhole with a bunch of friends was so much fun,” sophomore Tori Schmitt said. “It was a great way to spend a warm Friday afternoon.”

“Shamrock is such a fun opportunity to get Villanova involved in supporting our philanthropy,” junior and Kappa Delta President Mariana Marquez said. “I love getting my friends outside the chapter to join my team and watching them have fun playing cornhole.”

To win a game, a team needed to score exactly 15 points or have the most points when time ran out. The style of the tournament was one and done, so once a team lost a round, it was eliminated and could no longer progress through the bracket.

The top 10 teams were awarded prizes. There were also raffles out on the Campus Green for more fundraising opportunities. 

“It’s always so lovely to see all my sisters motivated by a worthy cause,” Marquez said, adding that she was happy to have the whole chapter out at the event. 

Shamrock was cancelled last year because it was scheduled to happen after the student body had been sent home for the semester due to COVID-19. 

“I was so excited about Shamrock this year since we have not had in-person fundraising in about a year,” Totoro said. “Planning this year was definitely difficult with all of the Covid guidelines and restrictions, and many things kept changing, making it hard to know how the event would run.” 

Up until a day or two before the event, it was scheduled to take place at the Oreo. A last-minute change led it to be moved to the Campus Green.

“I am very happy with the turn out of the event,” Totoro said. “It was Covid safe, a lot of fun, and we raised a lot of money for PCAA.”