Greeks join to give to the community

The GCSU campus has a large Greek influence, apparent both to those who participate in fraternity or sorority life and those who do not. Often times, however, these groups do not mix, except during rush season. In an effort to encourage Greek unity, display all of the positive aspects of brotherhood or sisterhood and promote each organization’s philanthropic goals, GCSU’s Greek Life organized a cooperative service event spanning over two weeks called The Big Greek Give.

The brains behind the operation, graduate assistant for student involvement Tiffany Cannon, was pleased with the effects of the Greek Give.

“Over the week we have done collections, fundraisers and awareness, Cannon said. “We have raised about $1,000 to go towards various philanthropies and gotten about 1,700 cans for United Way.”

Students and the community could indeed see the Greek organizations cooperating to complete their goals inside a tent outside of the Arts & Sciences building during the school week. There were several events, hosted by a different fraternity or sorority, which occurred at different points throughout the week.

The 6-day event began Nov. 2 with a “Tailgate Kickoff Canned Food Drive” at the West Campus Pavilion to gather canned foods for United Way and watch the Atlanta Falcons NFL game against the New Orleans Saints. The following day, Alpha Delta Pi and Pi Kappa Alpha organized a dodgeball tournament to benefit United Way, followed by Delta Zeta and Phi Mu’s silent auction Nov. 4.

“We had a silent auction because Delta Zeta’s portion of the earnings will go to the speech and hearing impaired,” DZ’s philanthropy chair Rachael Busler said. “Sisters from each sorority put together baskets that were Twilight, college, or ‘fratty shack’ themed.”

The Phi Mu ladies split their portion of the silent auction for benefit The Children’s Miracle Network.

Students could see the brothers of Delta Sigma Phi on Nov. 5 near the Arts & Sciences building providing information about the benefits of giving blood in anticipation of their upcoming blood drive. They also could see the sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha have a poster-kissing contest to raise awareness for breast cancer.

This past Monday, Kappa Delta and Pi Kappa Phi organized a Giving Tree, in which students were encouraged to bring toys for needy children. The event closed this past Tuesday with Kappa Sigma’s Care Package for Troops Collection to be sent to soldiers overseas.

The effect of seeing Greek cooperation on campus was another positive aspect of the entire event. Members of each Greek organization were encouraged to sign up to help other fraternities and sororities with their philanthropies.

“What we wanted to do was combine all of the fraternities and sororities to help create and maintain a positive image of Greek life for the rest of the campus and the community,” Delta Sigma Phi philanthropy chair Andy Gurbal said. “A lot of people may have negative images of Greek life partially because the fraternities and sororities sort of isolate themselves so we wanted to get back to the community and show them our positive side.”

GCSU can look forward to more cooperative Greek efforts in the future.

“I think our Greeks here are good at coming together to make an impact on the community and I hope that it will continue,” Cannon said. “The students have really enjoyed doing The Big Greek Give and I think it is something we can definitely do again.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 13 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry