Theta Chi will host the first university-wide Tufts Color Run around campus this Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
According to Theta Chi President Alex Kolodner, participants will be splashed with non-toxic, non-staining color by spectators as they approach various "Color Stations" across the campus on their run.
Theta Chi Philanthropy Co-Chair Krishna Soni added that all proceeds from the run will be dedicated to Direct Relief, a non-profit organization that gives critical health supplies and medicine to health providers around the world.
The run, co-sponsored by Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, the Tufts Association of South Asians and the Leonard Carmichael Society, will culminate in a large gathering and celebration on the Res Quad, Soni said. Runners there will be able to dance to a live DJ and sample food from local businesses such as J.P. Licks and Boston Burger Company.
According to the event page on Facebook, the Color Run was inspired by the Indian festival Holi.
Kolodner, a senior, explained that part of the impetus for the event stemmed from a sense that Theta Chi should move toward hosting larger events rather than the small-scale events it had previously organized.
Soni, who came up with the idea of the run, said that Theta Chi brothers were inspired by the success of their previous event, Tufts' Best Dance Crew, which raised over $2,500 this March.
"I was on the philanthropy committee last year," Soni, a senior, said. "We decided to take a new direction: Instead of smaller bake sale-style things, we wanted to do things with a big presence on campus."
Thus far, Kolodner said, the fraternity has already sold 220 of the 250 tickets available. Each ticket costs $20 and comes with a t-shirt.
"I think we'll easily make it to 250," Kolodner said. "It's really exciting to be a brother of Theta Chi at this time."
Some changes in the way that the fraternity manages and plans events also made the Color Run possible, according to Kolodner.
"Previously, our philanthropy position was a six-month position, but we realized that it really took a full year to do these events so, six months ago, we changed it to a year," Kolodner said. "We started planning over the summer and really picked up going into the year. Next year, we'll probably start planning into the spring."
Soni noted that he had hoped to host an event that would appeal to a large cross-section of Tufts students.
"We wanted to take it up a notch this year," he said. "One of the big things I noticed was that there wasn't a lot of inter-sorority or fraternity opportunities for a lot of campus events, so we wanted to do a really large-scale event that would involve a lot of people on campus. I really wanted an event that would unite the whole campus."
Soni added that the fraternity had coordinated with the administration and other campus groups over the summer in order to make the event what he hopes will be one of the biggest Tufts has had.
