Red Cup Relay raises money for Red Cross with party games

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Red plastic cups can mean a lot to college students, but a relay race in Powers Hall Monday night added charity to its participant’s brew.

Three teams of four and one team of three raced to complete water pong, quarter bounce and flippy cup challenges Wednesday night at the Red Cups for Red Cross: Red Cup Relay.

“It was so much fun, and students can really relate to the events,” said Canton junior Natalie Demeyere.

The water pong and quarter bounce events were played with two separate players from each team and the rally culminated with each team member racing to successfully chug their apple cider and flip their party cups as part of a relay line.

Registration was $20 per team and T-shirts were sold at the rally for $9, all of the profits of which were given to the local Red Cross.

Demeyere competed on “Team ZTA” with her sisters from Zeta Tau Alpha as they raced against their fellow sorority Sigma Kappa .

Sigma Kappa finished the rally in second, while “Team Tripod” conquered the field and finished the rally ten minutes before any of the other teams.

Every team walked away with a consolation prize, but “Team Tripod” received a Cold Stone Creamery Gift Card for their decisive victory.

The event was organized by students enrolled in the course RPL 430: “Planning Recreation Programs and Events.”

Plymouth junior Danielle Leist, a member of the class, saw the event as a success.

“I really thought it went well, everyone seemed to enjoy the events and we raised a lot of money for the Red Cross,” Leist said.

She said the idea to fuse party games in a non-alcoholic atmosphere for charity came from a desire to uniquely grab student attention.

“We really wanted to plan an event that really appealed to the students,” Leist said. “We had selected the Red Cross as our charity and red cups just fit perfectly for the name.”

They organized the event for the semester’s main project: to put on a fundraiser for the charity of their choice.

The group set out to raise $300 for the Red Cross.

Another RPL student and Zeeland senior Pierre Banks was confident the group managed to meet their philanthropic hopes.

“I know we reached our goal, we had a lot of help from our sponsors, and the team’s fees and T-shirts definitely put us over the top,” Banks said.