Student organizations set the bar in philanthropy
Friday, April 4, 2008
In March, Kappa Delta sorority raised more than $37,000 during its 25th annual Shamrock event. The fundraiser included a men’s slow-pitch softball tournament and a letter-writing campaign.
Nearly $30,000 was presented to the Stillwater Domestic Violence Center to help sustain programs facing budget cuts, and more than $7,000 was donated to the Kappa Delta’s national Shamrock project that to date has raised more than $6 million for Prevent Child Abuse America.
Each fall, the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon raise money to help Ray Murphy, a paralyzed former OSU All-American wrestler and Sig Ep alumnus. Murphy’s yearly medical expenses are more than $80,000, and this fall SigEp members collected more than $35,000 at a home football game.
The members of Chi Omega each year unite the Greek community for “Chi Omega Wish Week,”
and in 2007-08 raised more than $12,000 to grant the wish of a Stillwater child.
Gamma Phi Beta raised $8,000 for the RISE School of Stillwater annual Crescent Classic
Volleyball Tournament and Pancake Palooza.
More than 200 people took part in “In Like a Lion,” Alpha Delta Pi’s annual 5K race to benefit the Ronald McDonald House, helping raise $3,950. Also, 45,800 pop tabs were collected and donated to the Ronald McDonald House through the Pop Tab War competition on campus.
During “Phi Mu’s Phinest” annual male pageant, the women of Phi Mu raised more than
$3,000 dollars for the Children’s Miracle Network and made 500 towel animals to donate
to children in Stillwater.
Through various fundraising events, Delta Epsilon Psi/Eta Colony raised $2,000 to
aid in the support of finding cures for juvenile diabetes.
Stillwater Domestic Violence Center, Oklahoma Children’s Cancer Association and Coaches vs. Cancer also are among the philanthropies OSU student groups aided this year. But philanthropic fundraising represents only part of the charitable acts performed by students, according to Ival Gregory, manager of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
“Something we do is track community service hours for considerations such as the Troxel Award for the most outstanding fraternity on campus,” Gregory said. “Community service that was reported and verified was over 16,600 hours, and that’s just 13 organizations.”
“Farm House, for example, has just 55 members, but they performed almost 5,200 hours of community service this past year,” he said. “That kind of enthusiasm for service is contagious.”
Although it originated in the Greek community, OSU Up til Dawn has expanded to include many campus student organizations, according to executive director Megan Porter, a public relations and Spanish junior.
The collegiate marketing fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital involves many of the nation’s largest universities. In 2001, OSU became the first school in the Big 12 Conference to participate, and this year student participation and revenues generated were both all-time highs.
“Approximately 550 students got involved in our letter-writing campaigns, about 200 more than last year,” Porter said. “We raised $35,000 last year, and this year we’ve significantly increased our revenue with $56,000 so far.
“The executive board has worked very hard to generate awareness, but our success this year is also due to the fact that involvement in Up til Dawn has grown out from the Greek community to include most of the larger student groups on campus.”