Philanthrophy
 

As greek organizations we all donate thousands of dollars to our national philathropies. However I have yet to come across one that combats world related problems (i.e. genocide in darfur, oppression in tibet, or more recently children dying in Gaza.) I have begun to wonder why we do not try to not only support the philanthropies of our GLO's but also work to better the world. We have the man power and the abilities to do both, so why don't we. If I am wrong in my knowledge of philanthropies please correct me. I would love to know if any GLO's are working to combat world issues. If not does anyone feel that as greeks we should be doing more to not only help our communities but help the world.

Charity, as the saying goes, begins at home. Until we have reached a point where we have no need to do important philanthropic work here in the U.S. and Canada I imagine that will be the focus. There is an incredible amount of need here - more so now than ever.

That said, I know individual members in GLOs do amazing work for international charities. A Gamma Phi Beta sister, for example, started Africa Bags, an organization which enables African villagers to earn money making bags which allow Americans to not pollute through the alternative to plastic bags while also giving African villagers the means to preserve their scarce natural resources (such as trees) because they have an alternative way to earn a living. Other sisters work through established orgs like the Peace Corps to make the world a better place.

Just out of curiosity, what would you like to see in the way of an international philanthropy? What do you want your GLO to do about Tibet, or the situation in Darfur?

I probably should have narrowed it down, by starting small. I had read on CNN about some teens who had raised money to send propane stoves to darfur. If we only used a small portion of the money to send useful things to the people of these hurting countries. I truly understand the needs of the people living here but on average a single sorority raises around $10,000 dollars per year. I was thinking if we started small using only 10% of that to send valuable items to these hurting countries. However if every greek organization used the same amount say 10% we could not only make a difference in our country but also in other countries around the globe.

In my sorority, we do service projects to fulfill 6 areas in our purpose each semester. One of those areas is "Nations of the World". When I was a pledge, one of my first projects with O-phi-A was with an organization called Project C.U.R.E., which is an organization that collects donated medical supplies and brings them to areas all over the world that need them. So half of our chapter went to one location to help put together medical kids, and the other half, including me, went to their big warehouse to help organize it a bit, and get some bigger instruments ready to be sent overseas.

It was a great organization to work with and many of my sisters did go back and volunteer with them again.

Though I strongly believe in helping those less fortunate than you, I agree more with philanthropy starts at home. I think if you look at the statistics about the conditions in the United States, you'll see there is a disgusting wealth gap.

For example, NYC's homeless population went up 40% from last year.

Lastly, I think many international issues are logistically complicated. For example, with those gas stoves, I fail to see how they're not just going to be stolen away from the people who need them.