About 200 canned goods were gathered from the “Stroll Like an Alpha” event, which will go to the EIU Food Pantry.

“Stroll Like an Alpha” is a competition that allows women at Eastern to stroll like the men of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Phillip Love, the president of the fraternity, said each year the event is all about fun. Love also helped coach the women who participated.

“The purpose behind it was to give the campus something fun to come out to, as well as give the ladies on campus a chance to stroll like Alphas,” Love said.

Darien Ghostone, Alpha Phi Alpha’s vice president, was one of the coaches.

The winning team, InTENsiPHIed, was rewarded with a $350 from the fraternity.

The monetary donations will go toward an organization called March of Dimes, a non-profit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.

Kendel Fields, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, said any donation is a good one.

“Not only did the audience contribute to the donations, but the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity did as well,” Fields said. “We started the donations off with 50 canned goods, and the rest was the crowd’s participation.”

Knowing that this competition strolling event would get a large crowd, the Alphas were anticipating a great outcome.

“We knew we were going to have a large crowd, so the larger the crowd the more donations we would receive,” Fields said. “This year we had the president of the university come out, it was good to see him in the crowd as well.”

Love said the contest was so packed that they ran out of chairs. Ghostone described this year’s event as successful.

“It was a lot of fun, it was definitely one of the best one’s we’ve had,” Ghostone said.

“Stroll Like an Alpha” goes on each spring semester, so the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity will return next year to see who can really stroll like an Alpha.

“We love to mingle and interact with the campus and bring us together as one,” Fields said. “The event was great, each year we always have a large crowd, so that’s a good turn out.”

Stroll like an Alpha is a national program and has been around for over a decade, Love said.

“I expect for the crowds and the competition to increase,” Love said.

Jakira Smith can be reached at 581-2812 or jdsmith12@eiu.edu.