When Pi Kappa Alpha Ran ACAmania at the University of Maryland ⋆

It was early 1989 when my PiKA brother, Wealthy Dickson, talked about at one in every of our chapter conferences that the fraternity can be working a large-scale, multi-day sale of ACA JOE clothes to learn Household Stress Providers in Washington, D.C.

Dickson’s mom ran the retailer, ACA JOE, on the time, and Wealthy organized ACAmania with another fraternity brothers. The occasion occurred at Ritchie Coliseum on the College of Maryland campus.

The entire constructing was stuffed with tables with merchandise from ACA JOE, and all of us helped to place out garments, ring up gross sales, and so forth. I suppose we had been promoting all of their clearance objects, because the costs had been low cost, and tons of scholars got here by means of and purchased the gear.

I do not know how nicely the ultimate gross sales went, however $5,000 was donated to Household Stress Providers, and the clothes we offered was throughout campus for years after. I purchased a bunch of stuff, together with some rugby shirts with skinny, colourful stripes and a blue jacket with shoulder pads (I regretted that one, however wore it for some time as a result of I wanted a jacket).

As we had been selling the occasion, a photographer got here to the fraternity home to get an image of us all sporting our ACA JOE t-shirts on the entrance porch.

They made posters from the image, which had been displayed on the ACA JOE shops, and I nonetheless have my copy. However these garments are lengthy gone.

Within the December 1989 version of Defend and Diamond (the journal from the nationwide headquarters of Pi Kappa Alpha), the recap of our chapter (Delta Psi) talked about ACAmania…

Delta Psi chapter additionally offered an ACAMANIA weekend in April, an enormous clothes sale which raised cash for Household Stress Providers in Washington, D.C., to assist struggle little one abuse.

There was extra protection within the Defend & Diamond chapter notes within the March 1990 difficulty in regards to the first ACAmania and the upcoming second occasion.

ACA-MANIA was a serious effort put forth this yr by the chapter. Pioneered by Wealthy Dickson, with a hard-working help employees together with Andrew Auwerda, Rob Bruno, and Joe Millman, this enterprise has been broadly profitable. The chapter is now on the verge of the second annual ACA-MANIA at Maryland, and a number of other related undertakings have been launched at Pike chapters across the nation. The three-day public consciousness and fundraising occasion is designed to carry consideration to the issue of kid abuse and is underwritten by ACA JOE, a number one males’s specialty retail chain.

Household Stress Providers, the D.C. Chapter Nationwide Committee for Prevention of Little one Abuse, was the recipient of a $5,000 donation. Judy L. Rhodes, Govt Director of Household Stress Providers, writes: “I’ve by no means been extra impressed. The organizational and managerial expertise that your fraternity displayed would give credit score to a number of the finest public relations and fundraising companies on the East Coast.

You designed and orchestrated this challenge with apparent respect for professionalism. The whole lot from T-shirts and poster design to radio, tv, and print media protection was accomplished with a watch for element and perfection. You had been capable of safe not simply public service bulletins, however in-depth interviews with famous personalities.

You managed to amass, show, and promote (at +50% low cost!) high quality merchandise from ACA JOE, a really respected clothier. You even managed to salvage the occasion from a serious rainstorm. The opposite help actions – comfortable drink and meals gross sales, lotteries, and a disk jockey-topped an already spectacular operate.” Congratulations to Delta Psi on a job nicely completed.

And in spite of everything of those years, what’s Brother Dickson as much as? He’s been the CEO of Gap, Inc. since the summer of 2023, after working as President of Mattel, the place he made Barbie related once more.

Initially revealed at https://shawncollins512.substack.com.