Opionions on service idea
 

Hey everyone,

I may soon be the new Community Chairperson for my fraternity and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on a possible idea for a service project.

My idea would be to have my fraternity and a sorority work together at an animal shelter. This way we work towards hours and both girls and guys can hang out together.

Comments, questions, concerns?

I would love to her some feedback!

Rabidweasel

A couple things to consider:
- a number of people have allergies (some severe, some just an annoyance) to pets
- some people just aren't "animal people" (myself included) and would really not enjoy this
- some people are actually scared of animals
- is an animal shelter large enough to accommodate that many people??? That many people may be chaos. Also, the shelter may not allow that many people to volunteer at once
- training may be required

As someone who has volunteered at an animal shelter, I will reiterate Dani's statement that you can't just show up, put a dog on a leash and go. Reputable animal shelters require several weeks of training to work with the animals in any capacity.

If you want to have a clothing drive type thing for the shelter - i.e. people donating food, toys, blankets etc for the animals - that would be a much better idea. Call the shelter and see what it is THEY need. That's the key to successful service projects - not necessarily doing what you want to do, but doing what needs done.

If there is a sorority that you're especially close to, they may want to assist you in whatever you choose to do, but DON'T use a philanthropy as a social avenue to meeting girls. This is one of the things that gives Greeks a really bad name when it's done.

Penn State-Phi Mu
 

You could do a "See-saw Marathon" with eachother. My sorority does it (at least they did when I was still there) at Penn State down in front of the gate on College and Allen. They set up a can and see-saw for something like 48 hours, over the weekend. It seems stupid, at first, but if you do it during the weekend in an area where there is heavy foot-traffic, you'd be shocked how many drunk college kids during a football weekend want to hop on the see-saw when they are drunk to be funny in front of their friends (giving you money in the process).

It is a really fun thing to do and we actually raised a great deal of money. Also, if you do it during an Alumni Weekend (especially during Homecoming or around a football game), parents allow their little kids to get on the see-saw for a few minutes and they give you money, as well.

Good Luck! I hope you find something fun to do!