Derby Days, an annual event hosted by Sigma Chi, raised more than $3,000 for charity over the span of four days last week on campus. 

Throughout the four days, eight sororities on campus came together to battle for the first place title, according to senior Rob Evans, chair of Derby Days.

The Derby Days events were organized in a manner similar to Greek Week. The main difference between the two is that Derby Days is limited to sorority members, who compete in different events that challenge them both physically and mentally. 

“This year we had an obstacle course, dodgeball, Sigma Snap, Sign a Sig, Sigma Chi Stomp, penny wars at the Oreo and a scavenger hunt,” Evans said. 

As a second-year veteran as chair of Derby Days, Evans said he wanted to make this year’s event even more successful than last year’s. 

“Last year we raised over $6,000,” he said. “This year we instituted a website to donate online. We had every brother e-mail his parents, friends and alumni brothers to help donate. It made it very easy for people to donate online.” 

So far this year the fraternity has raised over $3,000, and it still expects more donations to accumulate. 

The online donation website will be opened until November. 

The proceeds raised this fall will be going to a different charity. Last year over $6,000 was donated to Children’s Miracle Nature and Huntsman Cancer Institute, an organization with which Sigma Chi has a strong relationship. 

This year the money will be donated to Donate Life, which uses the money for tissue and organ transplants. 

“I wanted people to see that Greek Life is more than just a social organization,” Evans said.

Evans estimated that over 400 members from various sorority chapters participated in the activities. Kappa Kappa Gamma took first place, followed by Alpha Chi Omega in second and Alpha Phi in third.

“We had much more people in our chapter this year,” Evans said. “We had a lot more people participate, we had great weather and the week ran smoothly.” 

The brothers of Sigma Chi anticipate next year’s Derby Day is anticipated by the brothers of Sigma Chi to be even larger than this year’s. 

“Some of the younger brothers have great ideas for next year,” Evans said. “It will be bigger based on the excitement of the younger guys. They saw success this year.” 

Most importantly, Sigma Chi hopes that each year the event will raise even more money for their designated charity. 

For people who are not part of Greek Life on campus, Sigma Chi is contemplating expanding the day’s events to the entire Villanova community in the years to come, which would ultimately draw in more donations. 

“For people who have negative views of Greek Life, an event like this shows them that we can donate over $6,000 two years in a row,” Evans said. “It’s getting big and pushing the limits each year.”