Sigma Phi Epsilon Hosts Annual “Vince Run” to Honor Member and Support Nursing Home
Sigma Phi Epsilon hosted the organization’s annual “Vince Run” April 25. The Vince Run raised $1,000 this year.
During the Fall 1984 semester, Vincent Lukowski arrived as a freshman at Northeast Missouri State University and joined Sigma Phi Epsilon that spring.
Members of Sigma Phi Epsilon with Vince Lukowski and his father Paul Lukowski (white hat, far right) after the 2010 Vince Run in April. The event raised $1,000 in support of the Beth Haven Nursing Home.
Two years later, he and a friend were driving along Hannibal’s fabled towering bluffs near the Mississippi River when a driver in a pick-up truck veered around a corner and crashed into their car. The car was pushed into the ditch and overturned, rolling partway down the bluff toward the river.
Vince was not wearing his seatbelt. He was thrown from the car and his injuries included a broken brain stem. Vince has been a quadriplegic since then, in residence at the Beth Haven Nursing Home. Vince can eat and see; he watches television and listens to the radio and to music. In fact, he is aware of everything happening around him and around the world. But Vince cannot talk and, because he can move only one finger on his right hand, he cannot write.
Beginning in April 1989, the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon have conducted an annual fundraising project in honor of Vince and to support the Beth Haven Nursing Home. The SigEps engage in an annual relay run from the SigEp house in Kirksville to Vince’s room at the Beth Haven Nursing Home in Hannibal. Each SigEp brother runs a mile and passes the baton to the next brother for 97 miles.
The funds raised by Sigma Phi Epsilon during the annual Vince Run have been used by the Beth Haven administration and staff for the acquisition of accoutrements for the residents otherwise not possible.
In 1997, Vince’s family and the administration and staff of Beth Haven used SigEp’s gift to establish a scholarship in Vince’s name with the national Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation in Richmond, Va., of which Truman’s chapter adviser, Roger Festa, is a member of the Board of Governors.
The “Vincent Lukowski Scholarship” is reserved for members of Truman’s chapter, and each year a Truman student receives tuition assistance.
Vince’s family and close friends from Hannibal participate in the SigEps’ visit with Vince at Beth Haven each April. Vince’s mom hosts a pizza party for the SigEps who run to Hannibal, Festa introduces each SigEp to Vince and the visit is concluded with a SigEp brotherhood ceremony.
For Vince Lukowski, this is a special event to which he looks forward each spring.
During the Fall 1984 semester, Vincent Lukowski arrived as a freshman at Northeast Missouri State University and joined Sigma Phi Epsilon that spring.
Members of Sigma Phi Epsilon with Vince Lukowski and his father Paul Lukowski (white hat, far right) after the 2010 Vince Run in April. The event raised $1,000 in support of the Beth Haven Nursing Home.
Two years later, he and a friend were driving along Hannibal’s fabled towering bluffs near the Mississippi River when a driver in a pick-up truck veered around a corner and crashed into their car. The car was pushed into the ditch and overturned, rolling partway down the bluff toward the river.
Vince was not wearing his seatbelt. He was thrown from the car and his injuries included a broken brain stem. Vince has been a quadriplegic since then, in residence at the Beth Haven Nursing Home. Vince can eat and see; he watches television and listens to the radio and to music. In fact, he is aware of everything happening around him and around the world. But Vince cannot talk and, because he can move only one finger on his right hand, he cannot write.
Beginning in April 1989, the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon have conducted an annual fundraising project in honor of Vince and to support the Beth Haven Nursing Home. The SigEps engage in an annual relay run from the SigEp house in Kirksville to Vince’s room at the Beth Haven Nursing Home in Hannibal. Each SigEp brother runs a mile and passes the baton to the next brother for 97 miles.
The funds raised by Sigma Phi Epsilon during the annual Vince Run have been used by the Beth Haven administration and staff for the acquisition of accoutrements for the residents otherwise not possible.
In 1997, Vince’s family and the administration and staff of Beth Haven used SigEp’s gift to establish a scholarship in Vince’s name with the national Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation in Richmond, Va., of which Truman’s chapter adviser, Roger Festa, is a member of the Board of Governors.
The “Vincent Lukowski Scholarship” is reserved for members of Truman’s chapter, and each year a Truman student receives tuition assistance.
Vince’s family and close friends from Hannibal participate in the SigEps’ visit with Vince at Beth Haven each April. Vince’s mom hosts a pizza party for the SigEps who run to Hannibal, Festa introduces each SigEp to Vince and the visit is concluded with a SigEp brotherhood ceremony.
For Vince Lukowski, this is a special event to which he looks forward each spring.
