About 150 Monopoly players turned an hour-long tournament into over $11,000 for the Family and Child Service of Schenectady on Sunday at Union College, thanks to the fundraising and organizing of two local fraternities.
Delta Kappa Epsilon and Sigma Phi helped organize the fourth annual event at Park Hall on Nott Street. For a registration fee of $5 for adults and $2 for children, players competed for prizes donated by local businesses. Prizes were handed out based on money totals at the end of an hour.
The grand prize was a weekend package trip to Montreal courtesy of the Albany Broadcasting Co., with other prizes donated by Amtrak and the Times Union Center. Smaller table prizes were also donated by corporate sponsors, some of whom paid $500 and $1,000 to be part of the event.
Mary Conklin is the development director for the Family and Child Service on Union Street.
“I think it’s fantastic how the community at Union College comes together to help co-sponsor this with us,” she said. “The students at Union have been tremendous.”
Started 77 years ago, the agency serves families from all over the Capital Region. The main programs of its $980,000 yearly budget include a family support service, a homemaker program for seniors, and counselling to at-risk youth groups.
The family support service helps families with school and Medicaid issues, and the homemaker program aims to help seniors remain at home and independent.
“I think that the people who work and Family and Child Service are extremely dedicated to helping people in the community to doing whatever’s needed,” Conklin said. “The employees of the agency, they go above and beyond.”
Pam Derrick is the president of the group’s Board of Directors. She has been part of the event for the last two years.
“I think it’s absolutely terrifi c that they’re interested enough in their communities to get involved in something that’s fun and really towards a good cause,” Derrick said. “That’s what’s going to make the difference in the future; the kids that are going to be recruited to the boards, and so on. That’s really important, you need that energy.”
Derrick has been on the Board of Directors for the last four years, and said that she got involved in the group after retirement.
“Because it works with families that have loved ones that are disabled, and because it works with an elderly population that really is very, very needy for services, I thought it would be a wonderful way to spend some of my time,” she said.
Alex Leisenring is the philanthropy chairman for Delta Kappa Epsilon, and Dave Conelias is his counterpart with Sigma Phi.
“I think it’s kind of unique for Union because most of the charities we do are national charities,” Conelias said. “This is one of the local charities so it’s a great chance to really reach out to the community.”
“We need to build a better relationship with the City of Schenectady,” Leisenring added. “The number one thing here today is that we’re giving back to the community.”