The brothers of Pi Lambda Phi threw on their best heels on Friday in order to raise awareness for domestic violence during their annual Walk-a-Mile event in the Alumni and Elm Hall circle.

Although high heels and hairy legs aren’t the most popular combination, the brothers of Pi Lambda Phi made it entertaining by giving students the option to donate one dollar to see a brother of their choice walk or five to see them run.

“The heels are a representation of the difficulties women go through. We put on these heels to say hey, this is difficult for us but imagine what it’s like for a woman all the time,” said Nelson Garcia, the New Member Educator of Pi Lambda Phi.

Although some of the brothers were in shorter heels, they were all in physical pain and developing blisters because they were requested to walk and run several times in a row without any breaks.

“I bought the biggest heels because no one would want to see me run in short ones. I don’t mind being in physical pain for a few hours for my philanthropy, that’s how important it is to me,” said Gjek Vukelj, President of Pi Lambda Phi.

All of the donations made went to their philanthropy, The Elimination of Prejudice Foundation. Domestic abuse may not seem as a prejudice; however, part of their philanthropy is to create a comfortable environment for sensitive conversations.

The brothers believe this conversation is especially important because there are domestic abuse cases on campus that people don’t want to talk about and they hope that their event gives these victims courage to come forward and seek out the help that they need.

“This doesn’t just happen in couples that are married, it can also happen here on campus and in any kind of relationship, so raising awareness can help people. It can happen to anyone,” said Jeremy Langdale, brother of Pi Lambda Phi.

After the first few hours of running around, the brothers had to take off the heels for a few minutes and put on socks from the exhaustion and blisters but proudly continued to put them back on after a few minutes.

They believe that domestic violence may be prevalent in women, but men also experience it and hope that Walk-a-Mile helped any individual start this conversation, regardless of gender.

“We want to raise awareness for the men and women that have been taken advantage of. We know this conversation can be very painful for some people and we want to help facilitate this sensitive conversation,” said Jonathan Vargas, brother of Pi Lambda Phi.