In the first-ever weekend fundraising challenge, a College of the Holy Cross alum offered to donate $500,000 if 2,500 supporters donated to "Plant Purple," a Holy Cross initiative aimed at showing Holy Cross' dedication to going green and supporting school spirit. Students and alumni from across the country donated to the cause.

Every autumn at Holy Cross, the grounds crew plants purple-and-green cabbages across the grounds. It displays their efforts to plant seasonally and exhibits the purple color that students at Holy Cross so proudly wear. The morning that the cabbages come in is especially exciting, as students wait and watch while holes are dug into the ground to make way for the new plants. Once they're done, students across campus can be seen posing with the cabbages and taking artsy photographs to post on Instagram.

The first morning of the fundraising challenge, students lined up at tables in Kimball and Hogan to #GiveGreen for #PlantPurple. The line in Hogan was out the door with students wearing combinations of green and purple for the occasion. Sophomore student, Nicole, said "The cabbages are the most inspiring thing about the hill. It's part of the reason I chose Holy Cross." #PlantPurple started trending on twitter as people posted #tbt with photographs from the previous fall. Students were truly inspired by the cabbages, seeing as they represent Holy Cross so well.

Another student said he was so inspired by the presence of the cabbages on campus that he decided to be one for Halloween. Jacob said, "I didn't have any ideas for a costume, then one day I was walking by the graveyard and it hit me. Cabbages." He scrolled through his phone and brought up a picture of himself, wearing a purple-and-green, cabbage-inspired costume.

In the cabbage patch next to the concert hall, there are often gaping holes in the ground, where cabbages once were. Sophomore student Allyn said, "People make competitions out of it. They see who can get the most cabbages into their rooms. I even saw one person pot it and give it as a Christmas gift." Clearly, the students want to see more cabbages on campus.

When the anonymous alum heard about the school spirit that the cabbages were bringing. He decided he wanted to start a fund to raise money so that the school could get even more cabbages, and even maybe get enough so that each student could have one of their own. That's why he set out to challenge the Holy Cross community to donate, as a sign of school spirit and camaraderie.

After 48 hours, Holy Cross was not only successful in reaching that goal, but they surpassed it! Over 6,200 donors participated in only 48 hours, and the school set a new fundraising participation record! Next year, the school is looking to break the record for most cabbages on a college campus. They accomplished the first challenge, so who wants to bet that they'll accomplish the second?