Rutgers Spirit Program wins 17th annual Homecoming Charity Bed Races

The Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA) held their 17th annual Homecoming Charity Bed Races at Sicard Street behind the College Avenue Student Center from 9:00 PM to 11:30 PM on October 16th, 2025. This charity event was conducted with the goal of each team donating new fidget toys and stress balls for students of New Brunswick public schools. Various student organizations customized beds with themes ranging from pop culture references, including animated classics and famous TV shows to represent their organizations. Each team made a mad dash down Sicard Street, with racers pushing their riders to the finish line.

As racing teams pushed their beds to the final stretches, three teams came out on top. Third place went to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, second place to the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law fraternity (in addition to winning the “Best Costume” category), and the Spirit Program and the Knights Watch organizations tied for first place overall, with the Spirit Program winning with the fastest overall time out of all the groups competing. The Spirit Program was projected to place in the top eight beds this year, with this victory being their third overall first place award in the last four years. Phi Alpha Delta placed third overall last year. In addition, the Alpha Phi Omega co-ed service fraternity won the “Best Design” category.

Members of WRSU-FM also participated in the bed races with an “Adventure Time” themed bed, complete with costumes designed by the Entertainment Department. While WRSU-FM did not win the races, the organization won the “Most Charitable” category, donating 360 4-ounce Play-Doh containers and 360 coloring books to New Brunswick schools. The minimum charity contribution per organization was 13 toys.

WRSU’s Noah Choi has the full story with interviews from RUPA organizers, RUSA representatives, the Marching Scarlet Knights, the Spirit Program, among other organizations participating in the bed races.

Rahil Chatterjee, Joshua Jacob, Noah Choi, Sofia Velez, Aishwarya Gorantala and Brianna Beauvais contributed to this report.