neat service projects

carnation · #1 10-15-2000, 04:35 PM

Hey guys, can you tell me the best service project your chapter ever did? One that was really, really useful to the recipients? Thanks!!!

kmullini · #2 10-15-2000, 05:46 PM

During my undergrad we had a really good one with the American Cancer Society. I have it listed under another forum in greek chat. Around Halloween "witch watch" was a really good one we did help the trick or treaters cross the streets around the community. We did this one year with Alpha phi.

Kevin Mullinix
Beta Theta Pi
Epsilon Mu

SRB · #3 01-19-2009, 05:40 PM

Medical Mission - Free Consultation, Free Medicines
Dental Mission - Free Consultation, Free tooth extraction
Optical Mission - Free Consultation, Free Reading glasses
Free Haircut
Free Massage
Feeding Porgram
Free Cedula
Free TV/Cartoon Viewing for Kids
Clean up drive
Free School Supplies
Blood Letting (Red Cross)
Gawad Kalinga
and many more

ASTalumna06 · #4 01-19-2009, 05:53 PM

A good project to do is to help out with Locks of Love. If you don't know, this organization helps to provide hairpieces to disadvantaged children who are suffering from medical conditions that cause hair-loss.

If you contact local hairdressers, most often, they are more than willing to provide free haircuts... especially if it's for a good cause.

Advertise for this event and ask students on campus if they would like to participate. Guidelines for acceptable donations are posted on locksoflove.org. If you think you can gain enough interest, this will prove to be a very good project for your organization.

(And it's also a good way to recruit... just talk to people while they're getting their hair cut!)

phisiglindsey · #5 02-16-2009, 03:09 PM

Our philanthropy is the National Kidney Foundation, and because of this we do A LOT of work with patients having kidney issues. We often go to the NKF HQ around here and pick up a lot of their paperwork to do. It helps them out a lot because what takes them weeks, only takes us hours. Also, this Valentine's Day we made goodies bags with Valentine's Day treats and took them to the dialysis unit at the hospital. The patients were relieved to see us because we cured them of their boredom by giving them candy and talking to them for the hours they were hooked to the machines.

DreamfulSpirit · #6 02-16-2009, 03:20 PM

While I was active with OPA, I think one of the most creative that we did (and we got voted Chapter of the Week by the Panhellenic council on campus because they thought this was really cute!) was we went to a senior citizen residence and had a Senior Prom. We danced and chatted with the residents, had snacks and drinks. It was fun!

thetygerlily · #7 09-24-2009, 01:36 PM

My absolute favorite was back when Kappa's philanthropy was "Women Helping Women". My chapter was (and still is) involved in a local women's shelter, and we threw a Halloween party for the kids there in 2002. We had bobbing for apples, pin the tail on... something I don't remember!, coloring, a toilet paper mummy wrapping contest, food, etc. We all dressed up too. The kids had a blast, but the mom's reactions were the best. They were so overcome with seeing their kids have a normal night as children that several of them were close to (or in!) tears, and kept telling us how much it meant to them to see their kids actually enjoying themselves and just being kids. There's something to be said for giving someone a "normal" night during a difficult time. They did ask if they could keep the extra toilet paper though, so we felt kind of bad for wasting some on the mummy contest. Overall it was an awesome experience for everyone involved- and I will never forget it!

OPhiAGinger · #8 10-16-2009, 08:02 PM

We did a huge variety of projects including fundraising and environmental projects, but my two favorites both involved face-to-face interaction with the beneficiaries. To me, that's what generates the biggest feeling of accomplishment.

The first involved the whole chapter and benefitted the children who lived in my campus's married student housing. Our faculty advisor was also the advisor for the Married Students Housing Association, and she clued us in to the hardships that the kids living there often had to face while their parents finished their degree(s). All we did was put on a little afternoon Halloween carnival for them, but it was a huge treat to those kids! We just did stuff like face painting, pumpkin carving, three-legged races and other messy outdoorsy crafts and games. We sent them home with bags of Halloween candy and spiderwebs painted on their sweaty little faces, and we all felt great.

The second was much more intimate and involved just a handful of sisters at a time. (This actually happened after I graduated, but I heard so much about it that I felt like I was there.) My chapter adopted a nearby senior center and visited with them twice a week for a special project: to make a quilt. The senior ladies at the center were experienced quilters and we were novices, and that was exactly the point. The senior ladies were eager to share their knowledge of this American artform, and the collegiate women were happy to learn. Our sisters signed up for shifts in this ongoing project, and before long there was a big wait list for spots. It was really popular, and probably had a bigger impact on the collegiate women than the senior women. It was a wonderfully calm, zen-like bonding time between two widely separated generations of women, and my sisters learned a lot more than just quilting.