Betas 'n' Bowties raises thousands for brother with cancer
Tylere Presley was rendered almost speechless when he realized more than $1,614 was raised toward his medical bills during Beta Theta Pi’s event, Betas ‘n’ Bowties, Wednesday night.
The Central Michigan University alumnus and Beta Theta Pi fraternity chapter adviser was recently re-diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for the second time since 2014.
To assist Presley with the cost of cancer treatment, his fraternity donated all proceeds from its annual philanthropy dinner to Presley's medical bills.
“Anything even over a dollar is amazing. I’m extremely grateful for any type of donation,” he said. “I almost don’t know how to say thanks. It means quite a bit.”
The event took place between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. More than $1,000 was raised before 7 p.m., an “overwhelming” turnout considering the fraternity “barely raised $1,000” at the event last year, said Clinton Township junior and programming vice president David Wong.
Despite already purchasing more food supplies and setting up more sitting arrangements than originally needed, Wong said the fraternity had to purchase more pasta and bring in more tables only two hours into the event.
“Cancer doesn’t just affect the patient, it affects the people around them. We can sympathize with the fact cancer sucks, but it’s not a battle that needs to be done alone,” he said.
A GoFundMePage was also set up to donate toward Presley’s medical bills. The page has raised more than $3,000.
On Monday and during the event, two separate donations of $500 were given toward his treatment costs.
“It’s great to see that even as an alum, you’re still a big part of the chapter. Having all the proceeds go to him shows how supportive his fraternity brothers are,” said Birmingham sophomore Olivia Gardella.
The goal amount of the GoFundMePage was to raise $10,000 after Wong, the creator of the page, realized the $2,000 raised in the first two days would still only scratch the surface of the costs of chemotherapy.
The page has received almost 600 shares on social media since its creation.
As of Wednesday, Beta Theta Pi has raised a total of over $5,000 in donations.
"I had to keep raising the amount because I didn’t know what was asking for too much. Our risk management vice president came to the house and asked why we’re playing around and told me to raise it to $10,000," Wong said. "He asked what raising it that high would hurt. He said ‘what’s the harm in shooting for the moon? If you miss, you’ll land in the stars’."
As a student at CMU, Presley served as leadership development chair, ritual chair, house manager and chapter president.
He also created weekly bible study, which is still held by current fraternity brothers.
“He’s someone that a lot of our guys in our chapter look up to because when he was in college, he went above and beyond to make every event great and the chapter great,” said Beta Theta Pi brother and Rockford junior Mitchell Dickinson. “He left a legacy here and built a bridge of it for our younger brothers to go across. Now we have the chance to give back and help him like he has helped us in the past.”
The GoFundMe donation date has been extended to Sunday.
