The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is hosting a tug-of-war competition to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital at Bear Lake. The event will take place On Saturday, Nov. 4 from 2 – 5 p.m. Tau Kappa Epsilon is calling this event the “Battle for Bear Lake.”

“This is our first Battle for Bear Lake event, but we are hoping to make this an annual competition that could potentially raise tens of thousands of dollars,” Philanthropy Chairman of Tau Kappa Epsilon, Cameron Renny, said.

Creating teams of six, Oakland University students and other community members must pay $60 to enter their team in the battle. Along with tug-of-war, food, drinks, music and yard games will be going on by Bear Lake.

“All of St. Jude’s operating budget comes from donations, so the families of patients do not pay a dime for treatment and the hospital works with the families to provide a place to stay and amenities that make their stay at the hospital more like home,” Philanthropy Co-Chairman, Joseph Taras said. “They put the patients’ needs as their number one priority and they provide premium care to those who need it, regardless of socioeconomic standing, which is why this is such a great organization to support.”

Students have the option to compete in three different brackets: the men’s bracket, the women’s bracket and the co-ed bracket.

In order to qualify for the co-ed bracket, teams must be composed of at least two girls and two guys, with the option to fill the other two remaining spots with either gender.

“I expect it to be a fun event,” President of Tau Kappa Epsilon, David Bashaw said. “Who wouldn’t want to come out and play a giant game of tug of war over Bear Lake?

Stemming back to 1978, Tau Kappa Epsilon has raised millions of dollars for St. Jude’s Children Hospital over the years.

“Tau Kappa Epsilon has committed $2.6 million over six years to fund the new Proton Therapy Synchrotron/Particle Accelerator [for St. Jude’s], a state of the art radiation therapy machine that targets tumors with high precision while sparing nearby healthy tissue and organs,” Renny said.

If not participating in the tug of war, students may still come and watch the festivities. Donations will be available for everyone to give to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

“All of the proceeds from this event will go directly to St. Jude,” Renny said. “To ensure this, we have provided the link to St. Jude’s webpage on our Facebook event page, which allows participants to pay for their teams entry fee with a $60 direct donation to St. Jude. Otherwise, participants can pay the day of the event with card, cash or check made out to Tau Kappa Epsilon. We are trying to raise over $3,000 at this event alone.”

Let the Battle for Bear Lake begin!