February is American Heart Month and the Ferris community celebrates by raising funds and spreading awareness.
The annual Red Out event, run by Ferris students and sponsored by the Sports Careers registered student organization, successfully carried its fundraising momentum from a strong 2023 campaign into 2024.
Saturday marked the 12th year of the event’s history at Ferris. This year’s Red Out was held in the Ewigleben Sports Arena alongside Ferris basketball and hockey games.
The collaboration between the Sports Careers RSO, sports communication classes and Ferris Athletics raised $3,400 for the Big Rapids Corewell Health cardiac unit, nearly matching last year’s monumental total of $3,727.
Sports Careers president and business administration sophomore Korbyn Kahl spoke about the importance of the event.
“I’ve had family members that have had heart issues and heart cancer,” Kahl said. “[Red Out] is just a really cool thing to be a part of for the community and for a good cause.”
According to Kahl, Sports Careers is supposed to help run things and help out the sports communication classes.
Kahl spoke to the tight-knit group that puts on Red Out.
“The comradery between everyone involved, I could not imagine doing this event with anybody else but this crew,” Kahl said. “I’ve always known that this is a big staple of the community and the RSO. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Events like miracle minute and silent auctions offered opportunities for patrons in the packed bleachers and concourse to show their support in a variety of ways throughout the day.
A Sports Careers social media coordinator and sports communication senior Claire Bressler outlined the impact Red Out has on the community.
“It directly affects the hospital and the patients there,” Bressler said.” It’s not accounted for in their budget, so it allows for something extra to support. There are plenty of people that don’t know the statistics on our boards, or maybe don’t know about the resources that are available at Corewell.”
Bressler also explained the mutual respect and support between collaborators that has grown over the years.
Red Out is overseen yearly by Ferris professor and sports careers faculty advisor Dr. Sandra Alspach.
“[Red Out] became an annual part of the [sports communication] course,” Alspach said. “The community was getting used to doing it annually, and athletics started to look forward to it.”
This year’s sports communication class had under a month to put on the event, as Feb. 3 is the earliest Red Out in its 12-year run. This year’s fundraising total is thanks to the growing relationships surrounding Red Out.
“It’s one thing to get a Starbucks gift card, it’s another thing to get a season ticket package or a Tullymore foursome package,” Alspach said. “Those [sponsorship items] are values that have grown with the reputation of the program and our relationships with individuals.”
“What I loved seeing this year was the athletics program pushers on the annual Red Out,” Alspach said. “We are now embedded, this is a tradition after 10-plus years, they like what we’re doing, it’s a win-win for them.”With retirement looming in the near future, Alspach reflects on Red Out.
“As I get ready to retire, I hope that tradition is carried on by my successor,” Alspach said. “My hope is that the person that comes in and takes my position appreciates the value of the brand that’s already established, but takes it to the next level.”
Alspach has plans to ensure a smooth transition to her successor, working side-by-side with the successor of her role on Red Out next February.
The future of Red Out hopes to be one of sustained growth, getting bigger and better with each passing year.