Virgina Tech

[Tom Earp]

A Plus For Greeks!



Six different fraternities participated in the clean up, in an
effort to improve relations with their neighbors

By Katie Harris
Staff Writer


The residents of Roanoke Street were greeted Sunday morning by the
buzzing of lawnmowers and a street full of young men equipped with
rakes and brooms, ready to tackle the mess accumulated over past
weeks.

The fraternities of Roanoke Street held a clean-up day that started
at 11 a.m. The clean-up consisted of raking, picking up trash,
sweeping and mowing lawns up and down the street.

The fraternities, including Delta Kappa Epsilon, Zeta Psi, Lambda
Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Kappa Alpha,
came together for the event in an effort to show appreciation to
Roanoke Street and to the community.

"We're going to try to make this an annual event because the
fraternities and the town seem to think it is a really positive
thing," said Peter Cosier, Zeta Psi's public relations chair
and a
freshman political science and history double major. "A few
select
people have hurt the reputation of fraternities as a whole. We're
here to show people that we really can do something good and not
just cause problems."

Kroger donated bagels and donuts to the fraternities to kick off the
occasion with breakfast, and the Student Government Association
donated rakes and gloves, which were used for this semester's
"The
Big Event." The fraternity members wanted to improve relations
with
their neighbors, who have had to deal with the issues that come
along with sharing a street with six fraternities.

"We have a different responsibility than the on-campus
fraternities
do," said Jim Scanlon, a Delta Kappa Epsilon member and junior
marketing major. "We live near and deal with community members
and
it's really important that we get along with them. Neighbors are
a
lot more willing to work with you when you help them out too."

Mary Freeman, a resident of Roanoke Street, appreciated the time
these fraternities donated to the clean up.

"This is great," she said. "I've lived here since
1971 and I have
seen how the fraternity houses have added a lot of traffic to the
street. Since I've had a lot of health problems that have made me
unable to do the yard work I might have ordinarily done, this is a
real spring clean-up for me."

Not only did the clean-up event work to improve ties with the
community, it also brought the separate fraternities closer together.

"I think it's great that the different Greeks can unite to
have a
sense of community beyond our individual frats," said Rich Kelly,
a
member of Zeta Psi and sophomore university studies major. "We
all
live on the same street, but something like this really helps to
bring us together."

The clean-up brought the fraternities together and helped make the
job easier and more effective.

"We used to do small clean-ups on a rotating basis, more of a
trash
pickup," said Marc Dalessio, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon member and
senior
finance major. "This is the first time that all six fraternities
have put on something of this scale. It helps out a lot when you
have this many guys working on it."



Is This The Way It is Supposed To Be?????????