Meaningful Meals: See the Francis Marion Hotel’s Colonial Ballroom decorated for the College of Charleston’s charitable 1933 Pep Dinner

Well-dressed guests gathered in the Colonial Ballroom of the Francis Marion Hotel for the College of Charleston’s charitable Pep Dinner on November 10, 1933. For nearly 100 years, select sorority and fraternity life groups have hosted the annual event, now known as the Pep Supper, to increase awareness about food insecurity among the student body and local community. Humbly beginning as a dinner dance in the 1920s, the tradition serves as a chance for fraternity and sorority members to give back and has morphed into a variety of skits and spirited dance competitions, organized by the Higdon Center for Student Leadership. In 2019, the Pep Supper raised $27,515 and collected more than a ton of food for the Lowcountry Food Bank. The virtual 2020 event drew in another $21,000 for the Student Emergency Fund, which provided students with financial aid for food, textbooks, school supplies, and housing assistance after the COVID lockdown. An in-person Pep Supper was planned for late October 2021.