Grant Dillard
Staff Writer
Murray State’s Kappa Delta organization held their fifth annual Shamrock Shootout starting Oct. 19, bringing in participants from across campus.
Shamrock Shootout, KD’s philanthropy event, is hosted at the William “Bill” Cherry Agricultural Exposition Center. It’s a two-day event that consists of a Greek night where the Murray State Greek community is invited to take part in the event, and also a community day where KD welcomes anyone to play laser tag and help support Prevent Child Abuse America.
“On Greek night we had approximately 90 participants in the laser tag tournament,” Kaitlyn Guthrie, senior and vice president of community service for KD, said. “Community day is always very unpredictable, depending on the day and the weather, we could have anywhere from zero to 100 people come out to participate.”
The idea of the laser tag event was pioneered in 2014 by a KD alumna, Natalie Simpson, who wanted to do an activity similar to paintball, except indoors. It was from that mindset that the laser tag activity was born, and continues to this day.
The money that Shamrock Shootout earns is split up and donated to several child abuse prevention charities. All of the profits go to PCAA, with 80 percent donated locally to Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky and 20 percent donated to National PCAA to assist in their charitable efforts.
“Since we started Shamrock Shootout we have raised over $30,000 for Prevent Child Abuse America,” Guthrie said. “Our hope is that we can continue to raise even more proceeds for this amazing organization and bring the community of Murray together in even more ways. We appreciate all of the support that we have received thus far.”
Shamrock Shootout looks to continue as a successful on-campus event for years to come, and KD looks forward to having as many visitors as possible.
“We could not have done it without the help of our Greek brothers and sisters and the support that we have from the businesses and people of Murray,” Guthrie said. “We would love to see more of the community take part in the laser tag event and welcome anyone who would like to play.”