Recently, eight men from one of the chapters in our area were on their way to a division conference in a van and had a fairly serious accident which hospitalized a couple of the guys overnight. The van in which they were riding slid on some ice and off of a twenty foot high bridge. Two of the victims had to be cut from the wreckage. Fortunately, the injuries were not as bad as they originally appeared.
When the word reached the House in the wee hours of the morning, two of the actives, a recent alum and one of the victims' girlfriends (I forget her sorority) immediately jumped in their own cars and drove nine hours each way to pick the guys up and bring them back to campus.
In addition, the small town near where the wreck happened really opened up its heart to the guys -- with free motel rooms for the less injured, free meals and even free painkillers from the local pharmacy.
As Division VP, I attended the chapter meeting following the accident and was also most impressed with the campus response. The Univesity sent the Dean of Students, the Greek Advisor and a psychologist (trauma counselor) to offer assistance. Also, two or three sororities sent representitives (and wonderful chocolate chip cookies) to pay their respects.
The irony is that the chapter won the highest award given to a Delt Chapter (for the third time in the chapter's five year existance) at that conference, but they weren't there to accept it.
The local alumni presented it to them a few weeks later on the fifth anniversary of the chapters charter.
Fraternally,
DeltAlum
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