Zeta Tau Alpha :: Beating the Odds Against Breast Cancer with Big Man on Campus

“All you need is a strong heart and a nerve of steel,” Elvis Presley sang in 1964. “Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas.”

With “a fortune lost and won on every deal,” men and women fight to survive breast cancer every day. The sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha have joined that war to defend those men and women by bringing awareness and education of breast cancer to each individual nationwide. The Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation furnishes more than a quarter of a million dollars to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation each biennium. In 2003, the ZTA Foundation registered the trademark THINK-PINK!®.

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Locally, the sisters of the Gamma Rho chapter at Auburn University sponsor an all male beauty pageant each spring called Big Man on Campus. Sixteen contestants are selected by each sorority on Auburn’s campus and then compete in an opening number, talent, formal wear and an on-stage interview.

ZTA at Auburn has raised more than $35,000 each year to donate to Breast Cancer Education and Awareness.

“Our goal this year is to raise $40,000!” says Kimberly Calongne, ZTA Philanthropic Fundraising Chair. ”We raise money by accepting business donations, community donations, member donations, contestant fundraising, selling T-shirts, and selling tickets to the event.”

Fundraising consists of a large percentage in the contestants’ scores, therefore they each work tediously and passionately to raise the money for such a bold cause.

Contestants have hosted restaurant nights at local eateries, sold T-shirts and tickets to the event, and even participated in a date auction. The contestants also entered into the Sexy Legs competition. A picture of each guy’s leg is posted on the concourse for students and faculty members to vote on. Voters put money in whichever guy’s jar they think is deserving of the award. The winner is announced the night of the event.

The final category external to the competition is Zeta Favorite. Each contestant journeys to the ZTA chapter room with a mission to receive each Zeta's vote by showering them with praises and gifts. Contestants that bring in chocolate covered strawberries, five-pointed crowns, and songs or poems written for the Zetas are always voted in as the most-lovable guys, and ultimately voted in as the Zeta Favorite.

This year, the theme for the pageant is: Viva Las Vegas – Beating the Odds Against Breast Cancer. The Big Man on Campus pageant will be held April 8, 2010, at 7 p.m. in the Student Activities Center. Tickets will be sold on the concourse a few days prior to the event for $5 but can also be bought at the door for $7 on the night of the event.

Beyond the Big Man on Campus pageant, the Gamma Rho chapter participates in many other campus and community events to bring awareness and to further education about breast cancer. Every year the sorority sisters run in the Birmingham Race for a Cure, pass out pink ribbons and fact cards on the concourse and Auburn athletic events, and arrange for pink lights to shine on well-known buildings in the Auburn community like Samford Hall, Cater Lawn and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.

“Breast cancer is so relevant in today's world and has affected so many people,” says philanthropic publicist Monique Coker. “For us to raise money and help support that many people is such a great feeling. I am so thankful to be apart of a sorority that feels so passionate about helping the Susan G. Komen foundation.“