prettygyrl,
that is a good question.
Some of the stuff we did every (or nearly every) year:
- Daffodil Days.. an event to help raise money for the American Cancer Society
- Interfaith Hospitality.. we actually did this about every 3 months. It's an outreach to homeless people, especially if they have families. Several local churches (regardless of denomination) participate in this together. A church across the street from our campus was one of them. We would go on a Sunday afternoon and set up little 'rooms' in the church with beds and such. Then throughout the week, church members and other volunteers took the adults to look for jobs and/or places to live. We (the fraternity) helped out by going to the church and looking after the kids (the ones who weren't in school) and playing with them. Then the next week they would move on to another church. It was really a neat thing to be a part of, but sad, too.
- There was an orphanage near our school. Every year the kids would come through our dorms and go 'trick or treating'. All (well, most) of the residents decorated their halls and stayed in to pass out candy. After the kids were done with that, they came to our chapter room and threw a Halloween party for them. It was really fun, and the kids loved it!
- The MacDowell Colony.. this is our national philanthropy. It's actually a place in New Hampshire where artists (visual artists, musicians, writers, etc.) stay for about a year. They have their own private cabin that remains undisturbed, where they can create in solitude. Our fraternity maintains one of these cabins.. we give the $ to support its upkeep, etc. But we don't interfere in how it is used by the colony or who occupies it.
One of the coolese things we did while I was an undergrad:
A benefit concert to adopt a whale! We got other Greeks to come out and have booths (one chapter sold pop and beverages, one sold nachos or something, we made little decorations and jewelry w/ whale themes, or "Phi Beta Whale Benefit Concert '97", etc.) The show was free. We got some local bands, the campus Gospel Choir, etc. to come out and perform for us. All the money raised went to adopt the whale. Our Student Government sponsored a pizza party for the greek organization that raised the most money (so there was incentive for everyone). We ended up with more than enough to adopt a whale, so we just donated the remainder of the $$ to the foundation. This was a big event, but well worth the work and so fun to have everyone working together!!
Well, there's more, but I think you get some ideas
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SilverTurtle@greekchat.com
Phi Beta Fraternity
Phi chapter