Ball State University students and Muncie residents have the opportunity to jail their friends during Alpha Omicron Pi sorority's sixth annual Jail N Bail event today and Saturday.
The event will raise money for the Dystonia Research Foundation and Arthritis Research Foundation.
The students and local residents can donate a minimum of $10 to jail their friends, and upon agreement their friends are taken to the Alumni Center in a University Police Department squad car. Those individuals who are jailed are provided with a phone and a phone book to call friends, family or strangers who can donate money to bail them out. The detained individuals are released upon raising twice the amount they were jailed for.
"Jail N Bail is something that helps everyone, and it isn't just those of a certain age, race or background," said Erin Thompson, co-chairwoman of the event. "It is a fun event that doesn't take a lot of time or money."
Sarah Ernstberger, a 2003 Ball State graduate, was diagnosed with dystonia - a disease that affects the body's involuntary muscle movements.
"Muscles never relax they are always contracted, and it has affected my neck, so it feels like I have a stiff neck all the time," Ernstberger said.
Dystonia is a neurological disorder that doctors compare with Parkinson's disease. The disorder especially affects those who are young, Ashley Ward, co-chairwoman of Jail N Bail, said.
"They used to treat it with Botox injections, but the problem is people become immune to it, and that's what happened to Sarah," Ward said.
"That's why we work so hard for the money, because we know somebody that is waiting for the next development."
This is the first year that the Jail N Bail spans over two days, so the chapter hopes to raise double the $4,500 that was raised last year.
For every $50 a person raises, his or her name will be entered into a raffle for DVD players and coupons provided by local businesses.
"Our entire chapter is proactive to fund the research, and it is our main philanthropy in the fall," Thompson said.
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