By: Virginia Shine
Gamma Delta Chapter, University of Houston

On Saturday, November 21, 1998, a big "splash" was had by the members and pledges of Beta Alpha Psi in the parking lot of Walmart on Fry Road. No job was too big (14-wheeler) or too small (Honda Civic) for this car wash project. The driver of the 14-wheeler not only donated money, but gave us numerous boxes of Pop Tarts to quench any hunger we might have at the time. We ate the Pop Tarts for breakfast and had a pizza for lunch.

In the early morning hours it was cold, but it warmed up as the day went on and it turned out to be a good day for car washing. At first we weren't sure if we would have much business, but as the morning progressed, we sometimes had 3 or 4 cars at once to wash. It was like an assembly line - wet one, soap one, rinse one and dry one. We only had one hose so sometimes there was a conflict as to wetting and rinsing, but it all worked out in the end.

I don't know how the other car washers felt, but I had a great time. It was a pleasure meeting and talking with some of the people who made donations and it was fun seeing everyone get wet. Approximately $230 was brought in from washing cars and Walmart contributed $200 plus water. I think this was a great way to not only have fun, but to make money at the same time. I would recommend that this type of fundraiser be held more often.

Beta Alpha Psi members cleaning a fourteen wheeler truck
(Left to Right) Kenny Kok, Christina Bloise, Courtney Adcox, Liu Carl, John Garcia, Raza Khan, John Simms, Alexandra Simms