February 4, 2010: Our Town – OWU

Frankie Weschler ’11 is shown here participating in a belly-flop fund-raiser at his high school, Loyola Academy in Illinois. The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity member is organizing a belly-flop event February 6 to benefit Haiti’s earthquake victims.

Photo courtesy of Frankie Weschler ’11

Making a Splash
Ohio Wesleyan fraternities hitting the water to help Haiti

When it comes to fund-raisers, this one promises to be a big flop. And that’s just fine with organizer Frankie Weschler ’11.

Weschler, a Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity member from Chicago, is organizing a “Belly Flop for Haitian Relief” in conjunction with Ohio Wesleyan University’s eight fraternities. At least one member of each fraternity is likely to hit the water—literally—for the event.

The fund-raiser will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. February 6 at OWU’s Pfeiffer Natatorium. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. Admission is $2 per person, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR) to help Haiti recover from the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that devastated the country last month.

“Everyone is welcome,” says Weschler, a theatre major and lacrosse player. “Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your family’s friends.”

Although the event will mark Ohio Wesleyan’s first belly-flop fund-raiser, such events are nothing new to Weschler, whose high school, Loyola Academy, has been holding them for years to help feed Chicago’s homeless and hungry. Weschler says he was working on plans for an OWU belly-flop fund-raiser even before the crisis in Haiti.

“But after the earthquake, it went from hunger to Haiti,” Weschler says, crediting his parents for inspiring him to take part in projects to help others. His mom, Jody, is a nurse, and his dad, Frank, is a doctor.

Weschler remembers his parents being heavily involved in Honduran relief efforts after Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, killing or displacing thousands and obliterating much of the nation’s architecture and infrastructure. According to the National Climatic Data Center, Hurricane Mitch remains the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since 1780.

“I remember walking into our dining room, which had been transformed into an office, and seeing people and boxes everywhere,” Weschler says. “I learned everyone was working to save Honduras. Ever since then, I’ve wondered when it would be my turn to help. This is an opportunity to follow in my parents’ footsteps.”

Click here for more about OWU’s efforts to help Haiti.

Click here for more about “Belly Flop for Haitian Relief.”

– Cole Hatcher