Phi Kappa Tau hosts Phry Tau, raises money for terminally ill children
The Phi Kappa Tau house smelled of batter and french fries as brothers fried food for a charitable cause.
The event ran Thursday night at the Phi Kappa Tau house, 906 Main St., where endless fries were served with cheese, chili and other condiments. Fried Oreos, pickles and Twinkies were also sold, with proceeds benefitting the Hole in the Wall Camps.
"The charity was founded by one of our brothers, (famous actor) Paul Newman," said Grosse Ile sophomore Zack Kowalski. "It sends terminally ill children to summer camp for free."
About 300 to 400 people attended the event, Kowalski said.
The first Phry Tau event last year raised about $1,000 for the charity. Tristan Nelson, a Ypsilanti senior and the fraternity's philanthropy chairman, said the event will be held annually.
"I'm just excited to have this big event," Kowalski said. "Sometimes people bring things for us to fry for them, so we throw some batter on it and see if it works."
There was live music at the event. Saginaw junior Ben Schuller played acoustic sets at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
"We're hoping to make $1,500 to $2,000 this year," Nelson said. "We set it up all day and volunteer at night for free. Apart from raising money for kids, we just like to hang out all day with our brothers."
Kowalski said he felt like the event was more organized this time, but would have been more successful without the rain.
"We've been selling tickets for about three weeks, and about a week ago we put up flyers and a Facebook event," he said. "We don't have the count yet, but we probably raised at least what we raised last time."
Nelson said there was good community support for the event. Most of the money to buy the supplies came from the philanthropy budget or alumni donations, he said.
"We're proud of ourselves because we made a little bit of money to help the less fortunate," he said.
West Bloomfield senior Matt Lenzi said he was there all day and would likely end up closing up for the night.
"I'm having a good time with all my brothers," he said. "Of course you get a good feeling making money for a good cause"
