Musical chairs is no longer just a game for kids. On May 5, the Student Alumni Council of Ohio State will be inviting the OSU community and residents of Columbus to join in a rousing, and very large, game of musical chairs. The event, Musical ‘Chair’ity, will take place on the Oval and try to break the record for the number of people playing musical chairs while raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“Just about everyone knows how to play musical chairs,” said co-chairpersons Nidhi Gupta and Novie Sroa. “And charities are always in need of financial support and community visibility.”
SAC is hoping they will be able to bring together not only the OSU community but also the entire community of Columbus for the benefit of the foundation.
“We brought back the Musical ‘Chair’ity event to give Ohio State and the city of Columbus something to be proud of,” said Pete Grayson, President of SAC.
To break the record, the council is hoping to reach their goal of 9,000 participants willing to play musical chairs for as long as it takes. The previous record for musical chairs was set in 1989 at the Anglo-Chinese school in Singapore where they were able to play musical chairs for 3.5 hours with 8,328 participants.
With each player’s $5 fee, they hope to be able to raise $40,000 for the organization. Registration starts at 11 a.m. and the game begins at 1 p.m.
“I would like for the number of participants to be large enough to break the current world record for the largest game of musical chairs,” said Gupta. “This will give the Ohio State University and the Make-A-Wish Foundation worldwide recognition.”
Along with a game of musical chairs, SAC will be raffling off several prizes, including a $1,000 scholarship, free Road Runner Service and rides in the Goodyear Blimp.
“Our grand prize, sponsored by the OSU Alumni Association, is an awesome trip to California to see the OSU football team play UCLA this fall,” said Grayson.
“The Student Alumni Council is one of few organizations on campus that could pull off an event of this magnitude,” said Grayson. “We are really proud that it has been planned entirely by Ohio State students.”
According to SAC, the Make-A-Wish Foundation was chosen because of the belief in its mission.
“We believe its mission is respectable,” said co-chairpersons Gupta and Sroa. “We know that the donation will be spent wisely.”
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides children with debilitating diseases with one special wish.
“In the 1999 fiscal year, 84 cents of every dollar were used to uphold the foundation’s mission of “granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy,” said Gupta and Sroa.
