Collegiate Times

In an online competition between philanthropic organizations, one particular cause stands out from the collections of dance-offs and trivia nights.

"Play for Patrick" is dedicated towards raising money for Blacksburg High student Patrick Day, who is currently suffering from a debilitating condition.

The Grablife Givelife online competition, sponsored by Dodge motor company, allows students and university-affiliated organizations from schools around the country to nominate their own philanthropic cause.

Once the nominations are in, anyone with a valid ".edu" e-mail address can register on the site and vote for their philanthropy of choice online. The first group to reach 20,000 votes will be awarded $20,000 for their specific cause.

The "Play for Patrick" campaign is attempting to win the competition and earn the reward to help Blacksburg High School junior Patrick Day with his medical expenses.

After suffering a rare spinal stroke on the second day of classes, Day was left paralyzed. His medical expenses are only getting higher as he continues his stay at the Kluge Rehabilitation Center for Children at the University of Virginia. According to Richelle Holland, junior marketing major and member of Delta Zeta sorority, the organization sponsoring "Play for Patrick," Day's insurance will not cover much of his treatment.

After being contacted by Blacksburg High School, the Delta Zeta sorority spearheaded this attempt to raise money. Holland had recently started an internship at the marketing company that promotes the Grablife Givelife organization, the host of the online competition.

"We decided this would be the perfect way to raise money for him," said Holland. "It was the best way to get him the money he needs for his medical bills."

Each registered person is allowed to vote once every 24 hours, and "Play for Patrick" is currently in first place in the competition, with 7,237 votes as of Thursday afternoon.

Other than the first place prize, there are several opportunities for charity organizations to receive money for their cause. Virginia Tech has 12 nominated causes in the competition in addition to the Play for Patrick cause.

After only five days of voting, the Play for Patrick cause had received almost 7,000 votes, beating the next closest cause by 3,000 votes. According to Holland, it is important to get more people informed about the cause in order to reach the 20,000 vote goal.

"At the rate it is going right now, I would say that by sometime next week we could have the 20,000 votes," said Holland.

The support from the university itself has been very high as well, with professors also getting involved. Theater professor Susanna Rinehart has been one to encourage students to get online and support not only this cause but the many other worthy charities competing in Grablife Givelife.

"When I first saw it, I thought that it was something that faculty and staff and students could do," said Rinehart.

"We're relying on the support of the Virginia Tech community to help him out by taking a couple minutes out of their day and voting," said Blacksburg High School teacher Kim Radford. "His family is going to be forever indebted to those people for helping them get that $20,000."

Blacksburg High School also held a fundraiser this past Saturday, during which they raised $7,000 for Day. Unfortunately, because of the extremely high costs of extended medical care, this will make little more than a dent in Day's medical expenses.

Students can register to vote for Day and any of the other causes represented on Grablife Givelife at the website www.grablifegivelife.com.