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Mercer's 'Miracle on Greek Row' competition to benefit new children's hospital

The competition is put together by student organization MU Miracle at Mercer University

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Greek Row at Mercer University.

The houses are decked with lights, decorations and in some instances, inflatable Santas.

Some of the university's fraternities and sororities are participating in the annual 'Miracle on Greek Row' competition, put together by student organization MU Miracle.

MU Miracle regularly raises funds and awareness for Navicent Health's Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital. The hospital is currently under construction, and the money goes towards those expenses.

RELATED: Get an exclusive look inside the new Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital

Executive director Ryan Neil and external director Tara Chavda for MU Miracle say the competition started three years ago.

"The previous executive board thought, 'Hey, what is the best way to bring the holiday spirit to Mercer and get people excited about doing it for a good cause at the same time?' That's how Miracle on Greek Row was established," Chavda said.

Each participating fraternity or sorority buys-in to the competition and raises money as a 'team.' Their house decorations are then shown off on the MU Miracle Instagram.

Whichever house gets the most 'likes' by 12 a.m. Friday, the pool money is credited to their fraternity or sorority. All money is then given to the hospital.

Neil explains it's a chance to make your organization stand out.

"It's something that really brings Greek life together... and gets us in the holiday spirit together, and doing it for a cause that's bigger than ourself," Neil said.

Families of patients at the children's hospital will also stop by Thursday night to enjoy the lights and score the houses themselves. That score is also factored into the competition.

With 10 participating fraternities and sororities, competition is getting fierce, with some houses racking up over 2,000 likes.

"The likes always get pretty intense on Instagram," Neil said.

On a regular basis, it's not just Greek organizations that can help raise money for MU Miracle's cause. Any student organization can choose to register as a team online and compete with other teams to raise the most money.

Some teams end of raising thousands for the hospital.

"It's a great way for an organization to raise money together, but then the whole campus works together to reach a total goal," Chavda said.

Other than their Bearthon event in the spring, Neil and Chavda say this is the competition they're most proud of putting together.

"And every year it seems to just get slowly bigger and bigger," Neil said.

The competition ends at midnight Thursday, or 12 a.m. Friday.

You can find out more about MU Miracle by visiting them on Facebook or Instagram.

To donate to their cause, click here.

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