Freeze-A-Thon Runs Its 26th Year of Students Supporting A Charity

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) –It’s a cold winter week in Fargo, but NDSU’s Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and Kappa Delta sorority are standing outside in support of a charity, Down Home.

“We help people do move-ins, we’ve raised money and we’re trying to make sure that people have a place that they can call home,” said Nicholas Tofteland, Philanthropy Chair for Alpha Tau Omega.

The Freeze-a-Thon has been raising funds for various charities since 1999. With students volunteering to stand outside an hour at a time during the week-long event. This year the event started earlier than the years prior, starting on the 10th and running to the 14th.

“We’ve done this every single year for twenty-six years and we’ve tried to make a difference. We’ve raised last year it was nearly $40,000 for Freezeathon and so we’re just really trying to push this out there, make the change in the Fargo-Moorhead area and make sure that we can help them out as much as we can,” said Tofteland.

Down Home started in 2017 in the Fargo area with a mission of helping people come out of homelessness with housing and connections. So far they have helped two hundred individuals find a home.

“It was really when Down Home was first beginning that they had reached out with an opportunity to fundraise for us. And we have been so grateful. These college students are really working really hard to help Down Home which helps our community. So we’re very inspired by them,” said Emily Kaiser, Director of Mission Outreach at Down Home.

This year the students are hoping to raise $45,000 or more in donations.