The race may be over, but DePauw Little 5’s impact rides on

GREENCASTLE – DePauw University students raised $12,824 last week for United Way of Central Indiana during DePauw’s Little 5 cycling race.

The school’s fraternities and sororities participated in a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign April 17-24 and competed in cycling events, including time trials, street sprints and criterium.

Alpha Chi Omega was the top fundraising sorority with $3,894, and Fiji raised the most of the fraternities with $2,490.

The top individual fundraisers: Meredith Sierpina with $2,700 and Nagisa Omi with $1,606.

“Thank you to all the DePauw teams and riders who poured out into their community by raising funds for these meaningful programs,” said Chris Flegal, United Way’s community relations director for Putnam, Morgan and Hendricks counties. “I’m always amazed by how engaged and competitive students are – how invested they are in it.”

This year, students fundraised nearly double the amount they collected in 2019, the first year DePauw students campaigned for United Way during the Little 5.

More than 250 donors contributed to the campaign.

"Little 5 is an age-old DePauw tradition that brings the campus and Greencastle together around a week of competition,” said DePauw senior Leah Smith, a rider for Alpha Phi. The sorority placed first in the bike race and second in fundraising with $1,447.

“I'm so happy that Little 5 was able to be back on campus after a few years off—not just to compete, but to help raise awareness and funds for the United Way's efforts to improve literacy initiatives within the community."

The funds will go toward United Way’s childhood literacy programs in Putnam County, including Real Men Read and ReadUP.

Real Men Read sends positive male mentors into classrooms to read with kindergarteners across Putnam County. The program was launched seven years ago by a board member of United Way of Putnam County, which merged last year with United Way of Central Indiana.

Volunteers with the ReadUP program visit schools across the region to help third graders catch up on their reading skills. The program will expand to Putnam County next school year.

"Little 5 is an opportunity for racers and their organizations to give back to the community that supports them,” said DePauw senior Michael Aikin, Little 5 steering committee chair.

“We as members of the Putnam County community have an obligation to support our fellow community members. That being said, our fundraising efforts can still be fun and exciting by competing to raise the most money for the community we love."