Jill Smith
Staff Writer
[email protected]

To give back to the Murray State community and bring awareness to mental health, the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity donated $3,000 to Murray State’s Active Minds Chapter.

Active Minds is a nonprofit organization that provides awareness for mental health issues and education on these issues for young adults, according to their website.

Vice President of Philanthropy and Service Jacob Wilkes said the idea to raise money for the chapter was a group effort.

“Our whole organization wanted to help out Active Minds and what they do so we decided as a group we were going to donate the proceeds to them,” Wilkes said. 

The fundraiser was a talent show held on Oct. 15 in the Curris Center Theatre, according to the Alpha Sigma Phi Instagram page.

Wilkes said ticket sales, entry fees, donations and T-shirt sales went toward Active Minds. 

The talent show featured eight acts from sorority members, with Sigma Sigma Sigma member Leighton Solomon winning first place.

“She sang ‘The Man Who Can’t be Moved’ and played guitar as well,” Wilkes said. “It was an amazing performance that won over the hearts of the judges and the audience both.”

Wilkes said the chapter chose to donate to Active Minds because of their past relationship with the group.

“They are one of our five philanthropic partners for our fraternity and so we chose them this time because we did a lot of work with them last year,” Wilkes said. “We wanted to donate somewhere where we know it would be getting used near [campus].” 

Active Minds President Olivia Yaste said the contribution from Alpha Sigma Phi will go toward club activities. 

“The money goes toward things such as supplies for de-stresscrafts and activities, guest speakers on mental health and student mental health resources,” Yaste said. 

Yaste said the funds will help get more students involved with Active Minds. 

“Planning exciting activities for large groups of people simply requires resources,” Yaste said. “This way we are able to provide a great time and safe place for members without ever having to ask for a membership fee to fund activities.”

Students need a place to discuss their feelings without feeling stressed, Yaste said.

“Everyone deserves to have a safe place to talk about mental health and access to some fun times without worrying about how they will fit it into their budget,” Yaste said.

Alpha Sigma Phi has planned another philanthropy event that will benefit an off-campus cause.

Lofton Hazelwood was a University of Kentucky student from Henderson who died on Oct. 18 of “apparent alcohol poisoning,” according to the Courier Journal. Hazelwood’s family members have created an endowment in memory of Hazelwood. The endowment will be used for scholarships for those from the Henderson area.

Wilkes said many people on campus knew Hazelwood, so they wanted to find a way to spread awareness of the negative effects of hazing. 

“A lot of guys in our fraternity were close to Lofton, and I know a lot of people at Murray State were, and we really want to shine a light on his situation because it affected a lot of people,” Wilkes said. 

“I think the endowment goes towards helping people get scholarships for ag, so that will be nice,” Wilkes said. 

Wilkes said Alpha Sigma Phi enjoys getting to help organizations both on and off campus. 

“We love getting to help, obviously these groups for charity, but whenever we can also help out a smaller cause, it’s a lot more special because it’s going to a specific person instead of a group,” Wilkes said. 

Wilkes said Alpha Sigma Phi will continue to donate to Active Minds but hopes to help out other mental health advocacy groups on campus. 

“We are going to keep donating to Active Minds, I’m sure we’ll do another [fundraiser] next semester,” Wilkes said. “I haven’t really heard of any other [mental health] groups, but if there are some other ones we would love to help them out as well.” 

Yaste said she is grateful for the continued support from Alpha Sigma Phi. 

“Alpha Sigma Phi has helped us out before in the past, so I was really excited when Jacob said he wanted to continue the partnership,” Yaste said. “They are always so helpful and supportive.”

Alpha Sigma Phi rebate night to support the Lofton Hazelwood Endowment is being held today from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Don Sol.