On Feb. 19, Alpha Chi Rho (AXP) hosted a comedy show to raise funds for Ryan Moore, a TCNJ student who was seriously injured in a car accident.
Christopher Coppola, a sophomore secondary education and Spanish major, planned the event and said that AXP hosted the event because their former chapter president, Will Leonard, is close high school friends with Moore, who survived the Dec. 2 crash.
He said he also thought it would be a good way for all of SHU Greek Life to come together.
Coppola, AXP’s philanthropy chair, said the project came about when Leonard reached out to him and said he wanted to do something to raise money for Ryan and his family.
“I was really impacted, when I saw Ryan for the first time and how he had to walk with a cane, and listening to him speak about his experience, surviving a drunk driving accident,” Coppola said. “This was so avoidable if the driver of the other car had been responsible, and when you think about it, it could have been any one of us, from SHU.
“I thought a comedy show was an original idea, so I got in touch with a comedian, Adam Mamawala who graduated TCNJ in 2009, and he said that he would not charge us for the event,” he said. “I reached out to the other Greek organization’s on campus to see who would like to co-sponsor this event by donating a raffle basket, and the rest was all of my planning and work.”
Catherine Rubens, a junior psychology major, said she attended AXP’s comedy night because “it went toward Moore, a victim of an accident caused by a drunk driver, which hits very close to home because I personally lost someone to a drunk driving accident.”
She added, “Overall the event was full of laughs and was so much fun, all while going towards a great cause. It was honestly one of the best Greek events I’ve attended during my experience here at Seton Hall.”
Kate Donovan, a junior social and behavioral sciences major, said she thought the event was an amazing way for the Seton Hall community to help out Moore and his family.
“They have been through so much these past few months and I think this was the least we could do to show them our support,” Donovan said. “The comedy show was fantastic and had the audience laughing the whole night.
They say laughter is the best medicine and I that was definitely proven true that evening.”
Coppola said, “I would like to thank Alpha Phi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Sigma Tau, Alpha Omicron Pi, Delta Phi Epsilon, Zeta Tau Alpha, Delta Upsilon, and Phi Delta Theta for being incredibly generous and offering to donate raffle baskets.”
Werdeh Hassan can be reached at werdeh.hassan@student.shu.edu.
