Jam for Cam
Chapter & Alumni News
The Brothers of Mu honored a Brother in a tremendous way. Cameron Fearon, a University of Georgia sophomore, passed away this past August from a form of skin cancer known as metastatic melanoma. The huge impact he made on those around him was remembered through Mu’s first “Jam for Cam” on November 9, 2018. “I think the best way to describe Cameron is just through his excitement for life. He was a kid who always wanted to be out and about with his friends doing fun things,” said Carson Seramur, a UGA member of Sigma Nu. “He showed up to school already with his condition, so his goal was to make the most of every opportunity and he did that.” Cameron was one of the men who came up with the idea of the battle of the bands event and was involved early in the planning the summer before his passing with Brother Colin Beecham. When Cameron passed, the Brothers rallied together and knew this was something they had to continue to plan in honor.
The planning started in early September and they knew they had something great in the works but, did not know exactly how to pull it off. There were times when they weren’t sure if it was going to come together. They did not know where to start and they knew money was going to play the biggest role in making this dream a reality. After speaking with Ms. Fearon, it was clear that a fundraiser was going to be the route they took to provide the funds. After realizing the lengthy process in planning an event of this magnitude they sought for help and mentors along the way, President of House Corp. Joel Stern was one of the most instrumental people in the success of this event. Fred Dobry was also a key component in making sure legally everything went smoothly and was done the correct way.
Colin Beecham started a GoFundMe on a Sunday evening and within 24 hours they had raised over $6,000 in donations. Those numbers continued to climb during the week when eventually the Chapter decided it was time to start a non-profit organization, Jam for Cam, Inc. They wanted to make sure that the bank legitimized it and no money was going directly to the fraternity. From the beginning the Chapter did not want this to be just another party but, an event that showed the legacy of Brother Fearon. They implemented a two-tier fundraiser plan, one of the tiers was for the Brothers, and the goal was for each active member to raise $100 on their own time, and as a Chapter their goal was $50,000.
They had 42 committee members and the whole purpose was to brainstorm and work together to get this event to be the best it could be. It took about 60 days for the event to come to fruition because of insurance, leases, paper work, and ordering all the supplies. Marketing was one of their top priorities, but they did not want to spend a ton of money to do so. They did not want to make it easy for people to get, Beecham shared that they decided people love exclusive things which led them to a restrictive marketing approach, people had to talk about the event to get to the event. Their first idea was a quick promotion, they sent out a picture for people to screen shot 24 hours in advanced and told people to meet at a certain location to buy the wristband and it was huge success. From there on out they continued to use that marketing approach with tie-dye t-shirts and wristbands which got people’s attention rapidly in a creative way. They ended up selling so many that the evening of the event they ran out let 200 people in free of charge. They were astounded at the way it escalated and the amount of people who wanted to be a part of this
The event was taking place the night before the big Auburn football game, so many Auburn people were in attendance as well as their band Himalayan Pool Party who performed that night. They estimated about 49% of the people were from outside schools representing over 20 different colleges such as, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Clemson University, University of Alabama, Auburn, and many more. Sigma Alpha Epsilon offered to host the event on its lawn, and the participating bands included members of fraternities such as Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Phi Epsilon. At the end of the night Ms. Fearon got on stage to thank everyone for coming and talked more about the event and the impact that her son made on the community. There was about 8,000 people in attendance that night and they exceeded their fundraising goal by raising about $70,000. It took $15,000 to put on the event, and with the left-over profits of about $55,000 the Brothers donated $2,000 to Camp Carolina, Cameron’s youth summer camp, $2,000 to American Cancer Society and the remainder of the funds to Melanoma Research Foundation.
A couple weeks after the event the Chapter got together to debrief and continue this in the years to come. Since this function works as a nonprofit business structure, they are excited get other fraternities involved and have others join Jam for Cam in the future. The event went viral at the University of Georgia and people are already excited for next year. One thing they want to change in the coming years is the charity base. They want to consistently send some of the proceeds to Camp Carolina or Melanoma Research but, they want this event to be a platform. They want to use this event in Cameron’s honor to fundraise for others who may be going through something as Cameron did. The change of destination in the funds they think will be what makes this event stand the longevity to honor Cameron for years to come. Beecham said, “it was unbelievable to see how it happened as a fraternity, we came together and helped sort through people’s different ways of doing things”. It was one of the largest private events hosted at the University of Georgia and he believes they revolutionized how fundraising is looked at from the outside in. The Brothers are optimistic for next years event and can’t wait to get started planning. Seramur says, “It’s a tribute to how many people Cameron touched, both Sigma Nu and other fraternities around campus.”