With new leadership comes new practices. Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity has chosen to make the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) this year’s cause for their philanthropy.

Nine years ago, the mother of UMD junior and AEPi brother, Ben Susskind, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Fortunately, she was able to get the necessary treatment and is now a survivor. According to Susskind, a year after his mother had surgery, she decided to partner up with the township of West Orange, New Jersey and start a run to raise money for the NOCC.

“Since then, we’ve been doing it every year,” Susskind said. “This year was the biggest. The entire run raised over $100,000 pre-register … Since we started we’ve raised close to $1 million for it and I’m just hoping to raise some more by bringing it to Maryland.”

The brothers will be hosting a biking event called, "Tour de Force" on Fraternity Row, Friday, October 30, from noon until 5 p.m. Admission is $5 and will include food from an all-you-can-eat barbecue. Profits will go toward the NOCC in honor of the Susskind family.

As exhibited by Susskind, AEPi has decided to gear its annually philanthropy events toward causes that help their brothers rather than picking a finite cause to donate to every year.

“Last year we did juvenile diabetes for Ross Fasman,” Alex Spector, president of AEPi said, referring to a brother who has had diabetes since he was a child. “So we raise money for a cause for one of our brothers and now we’re doing ovarian cancer for Susskind and his family, and I’m sure next year it will be something different. So the idea is to try something new every single year and base it around support of one of our brothers.”

According to ovariancancer.org, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women, and is the deadliest of all cancers that affect the female reproductive system. It often goes undetected because of the lack of unique symptoms, therefore women typically don’t get treated until the cancer has progressed to a more advanced stage.

Susskind wants to raise awareness for this disease so that more women can take preventative measures sooner.

Last year’s tour de force was on the lawn of the AEPi chapter house. They set up two stationary bikes and had brothers rotating shifts, keeping the bikes moving for nearly 12 hours.

Spector said this year’s event will be more like a friendly competition between several Greek chapters. The brothers will set up more bikes and have teams of sororities and fraternities combined to keep the bikes moving for five hours, in 10, 30-minute shifts.

Spector and Susskind will both be riding for AEPi.

“There’s gonna be food, music, it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Spector said. “So come out!”