Nu Alpha Kappa, Inc. fraternity is excited to bring what we call "NAKLand Children's Carnival." This Carnival, which is open to the public and no charge, will take place simultaneously as Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. hosts a National Bone Marrow Drive Registry. The carnival will host a variety of inflatables such as: Big Glove Boxing Arena, Inflatable Jousting Pedestal, Inflatable Obstacle Course, Giant Scramble Slides, at least Four Carnival Game booths giving out prizes, plus several small games giving out prizes.

More importantly this event will serve as a catalyst to educate guest, family, friends and members of the community about the importance of registering with the National Marrow Donor Program. With the help of Nu Alpha Kappa and San Diego Blood Bank, we plan to register over 200 new registered donors and update information of those already in the registry, which according to NMDP would be a great success.

NAKLand 2008 Sponsors
     
  

Grupo de Danza Folklorica Mexicana Yadis, Director: Federico Guerrero, (619) 674-2126


NAKLand 2008 Sponsorship Opportunities
Click Here to read our letter to Potential Sponsors.
Click Here to download the NAKLand Sponsorship Packet.

Click Here to download the 8th Annual NAKLand Informational Letter.

Schedule of Events
Saturday, April 26, 2008 - Noon to 6:00pm
Azalea Park
2596 Violet St
San Diego, CA 92105
(619) 235-1162
Map of this location

10:00pm - 3:00pm......-National Bone Marrow Registry
10:00pm - 5:30pm......-NAKLand Children's Carnival and games
1:00pm - 3:00pm......-Entertainment (Aztec Dancing)
3:00pm - 4:00pm......-Serve and Distribute Lunch
4:00pm - 4:30pm......-Raffle of larger gifts and prizes
5:30pm - 6:30pm......-Break down carnival and Clean up park

NAK Contact
Carlos Piña
NAKLand Event Coordinator
nakland@naksdsu.org
(831) 776-9203

Mission Statement
The purpose of the NAKLand Children's Carnival is to promote and foster a positive relationship between the City of San Diego and the San Diego State University Greek community. In doing so NAK will be able to continue to provide a safe environment for families and students of the university to build bridges and provide positive role models.

History of NAKLand
In November 1999, Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity Inc.'s Beta Chapter at San Diego State University received the privilege to host and promote the 1999 Pledge-Fest. In an effort to surpass every Pledge-Fest before it, the Beta Chapter at San Diego State University organized an event that would combine culture and community service, a free children's carnival. At this event there were over 100 brothers of the organization and about 65 potential new members in attendance. These individuals helped put together the first ever NAKLand Children's Carnival where there were several small booths, one astro-jump, toys, prizes, gifts, and food.

Since then, NAK at San Diego State University has continued to have similar games and events in April of 2001, April of 2003 and April of 2004 where our attendance steadily grew from just under 100 children attending the first NAKLand in 1999 to well over 300 children attending in the third NAKLand of 2003. Although originally held in November, NAKLand was moved to April to celebrate the holiday "Día De Los Niños" (Children's Day) which falls on the last day of April in Mexico. Día De Los Niños celebrates and honors the children of the community for their efforts in and out of school by giving them a day to receive toys, candy, money, and most of al recognition of their future worth.

In previous years, other university organizations have helped out our carnival by donating gifts and attending the carnival in small numbers as carnival staff. Thank you letters and pictures were went to these participating organizations so that they to can have documentation of this event. In the NAKLand hosted in 2004, NAK integrated the organizations on campus in a more involved manner, it was determined that organizations could still donate gifts if they could not attend but were highly encourage to sponsor an entire booth by providing the material needed for set up and the gifts that coincide with the booth for the children that won. The 2004 NAKLand marks the first time other school organizations such as Alpha Epsilon (AE), Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA), Association of Chicana Activist (A.Ch.A), and the interest groups of Alpha Pi Sigma (APS) and Lambda Theta Alpha (LQA) help out in the capacity described above.

With the large push for more assistance from other organizations on the San Diego State University campus we pushed for news coverage. We wrote letters to the local newspapers, T.V. stations, and the school newspaper requesting their presence at the carnival. During the 2003 NAKLand a representative from our school newspaper came to our event and wrote a story on the event which came out in the DAILY AZTEC: Tuesday, April 29, 2003; marking the first year NAK was recognized in the school newspaper for putting on this carnival.

As our free children's carnival continues to grow in terms of size and attraction we hope that our efforts more then simply please you but also encourages you to participate or donate to our carnival.

Bone Marrow Drive
As a national philanthropy Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity Inc. has committed itself to partner up with the National Bone Marrow Registry Program. As such, every chapter must commit itself to host a registry drive on their respective campus in the month of October or November. NAK does this for the following reasons;

Every year, more than 30,000 children and adults in the United States are diagnosed with life threatening blood diseases such as leukemia and aplastic anemia. For many of these patients, a stem cell transplant is the only chance for a cure. A stem cell transplant can either be marrow or peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC). However, such a transplant is possible only when the patient and donor have matching tissue types. Nearly 30 percent of the patients in need will find a matched donor within their family. The other 70 percent of patients must search for an unrelated donor. These patients will turn to the NMDP Registry of volunteer donors in the hope of finding a match.

Although there are 4.8 million volunteer donors listed on the NMDP registry, there is still a special need for ethnic and minority donors. Because the characteristics of stem cells are inherited, a patient is most likely to find a match within his/her own racial group. Most minorities who search the Registry, with its current donor pool, are less likely to find a stem cell match. Given equal numbers of new Caucasian and minority volunteer donors, minority donors will yield more unique tissue types, thereby improving the chances of providing a match for those patients who currently cannot find one on the Registry.

The NMDP is committed to supporting the communities it serves. Through ongoing initiatives, the NMDP works with civic, faith-based organizations, corporate, and community organizations-- like Nu Alpha Kappa -- to raise awareness around the country and encourage more people to join the NMDP Registry. The NMDP has made great strides, and the likelihood of finding a match has increased dramatically for Latino and Hispanic American patients' because of efforts like ours. For more Information specially on registering: http://www.sandiegobloodbank.org/bone_marrow/

Nu Alpha Kappa NAKLand Bone marrow drive is scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2008 10:00pm to 3:00pm located the open a grassy area of Azalea Park. NMDP and Nu Alpha Kappa, Inc. are teaming up to bring in a proposed goal of 200 new registries and updated registry cards for this one event.