Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc.

Nu Alpha Kappa, Inc. fraternity is excited to bring the “NAKLand Children's Carnival” to our community. This festival, which is open to the public at 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 inflatable jumpers 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 with rewards.

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

NAKLand 2012 Sponsorship Opportunities

Click Here to download the NAKLand Sponsorship Packet.

Schedule of Events

Saturday, April 14, 2012 - 10:00am to 3:00pm

10:00pm - 3:00pm.... -National Bone Marrow Registry
10:00pm - 3:00pm.... -NAKLand Children's Carnival and Games

Rosa Parks School
4510 Landis Street
San Diego, CA 92105-2822
* Map of this location

NAKland Contact Information

Juan Doyer
NAKLand 2012 Event Coordinator
BetaNAK221@yahoo.com
(619)454-7801

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

On 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, astro-jump, toys, prizes, gifts, and food, free of charge.

NAK at San Diego State University has continued the NAKland tradition providing the carnival for children throughout the years. Since the first NAKland in 1999, our attendance has gone up from 100 to 300 children in April 2003. Although, originally held in November; NAKLand was moved to April to celebrate the Mexican holiday Día De Los Niños (Children’s Day) which falls on the last day of April. This holiday commemorating children, falls in early April in the United States. 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 all, recognition of their future worth.

In previous years, other university organizations have helped at our carnival by donating gifts and attending the carnival in small numbers as carnival staff. Thank you letters and pictures were sent to these participating organizations as documentation of this extraordinary event. At the NAKLand hosted in 2004, NAK integrated the organizations on campus in a more involved manner. It was determined that other organizations on campus could still donate gifts if they could not attend they event but were highly encouraged to sponsor an entire booth. Other organizations on campus were encouraged to provide the materials needed for the set up and the gifts that went along as prizes for the wining children of the small competitions. Since 2004, NAKLand has been made possible with the help of other school organizations such as Alpha Epsilon (AE), Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA), Association of Chicana Activist (A.Ch.A.), Alpha Pi Sigma (AΠΣ), Lambda Theta Alpha (ΛΘA), Sigma Lambda Gamma (ΣΛΓ), Upsilon Kappa Delta (ΥΚΔ), Lambda Sigma Gamma (ΛΣΓ), Sigma Theta Psi (ΣΘΨ), and Sigma Alpha Zeta (ΣAZ).

With the increase in 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 the 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 than simply please you; encourage 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 14, 2012 10:00am to 5:00pm located the open a grassy area of Teralta 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.