Sunday morning, Ohio University students will take off their clothes and run down Court Street. The second annual Bare on the Bricks will collect unwanted clothing from students and donate them to local charities.
The event is co-sponsored by the Student Alumni Board and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
Event co-chair Morgan Dominique, an OU senior studying organizational communications, said many participants donate the clothes right off their backs and run the event in little clothing.
“Some people strip down to their level of comfort, but you certainly don’t need to do that if you don’t want to,” she said. “A lot of people run in sweatshirts, sweatpants or swimsuits — it really doesn’t matter.”
Co-chair Chad Leikin, a senior studying accounting and finance and the philanthropy chair for Alpha Epsilon Pi, said that more than 350 students participated in the inaugural event last year.
“Just sign up,” he said. “It’s a great time, and the weather should be a lot warmer than it was last year with the event being in March as opposed to the middle of February.”
Dominique, who is also the vice president of the Student Alumni Board, said she worked to make sure that the majority of the donations are used locally.
“The majority of the clothes will be taken to My Sister’s Place, and we’re also working with Athens County schools,” she said. “We’re also working one-on-one with social workers who are making sure that the clothes go out to specific families in need.”
Contests will be held at the event this year, something new from last year, Dominique said.
“We’re hoping people get pretty into it. I hope that for OU pride, someone is decked out in green body paint or something,” she said.
The event is sponsoring individual and group contests for Most Creative and Most OU Spirit. The winners will have their photograph taken upon check-in.
Dominique said events like Bare on the Bricks offer more to the area than material things.
“This is more than making a monetary donation … this is giving something physical back to the community that we live in,” she said.
Leikin said it is easy for students not to view Athens as their home.
“(Athens) is a place that we call home for four years. It gives a lot to us in the terms of how we grow both personally and professionally,” he said. “It’s only right to give back in respect of that.”
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