Fraternities double philanthropy hours from three years ago

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, the article below incorrectly identified the fraternity that hosted the carnival field day for underserved Washington youth. Alpha Tau Omega coordinated the event. The following article has been changed to reflect this correction.

From coordinating carnivals with inner-city youth to hosting a barbecue fundraiser for breast cancer research that raked in thousands, fraternities at this university have logged more community service hours and hosted more large-scale fundraisers in recent years.

Members of the Interfraternity Council have reportedly doubled their philanthropy hours from three years ago, and members said the increase reflects a cultural shift in the way chapters give back to the community.

"Chapters are wanting to do more and actually taking philanthropy and community service more seriously than they have in the past," said Alex Marsh, IFC executive board vice president of internal affairs.

While many fraternities' national organizations require chapters to meet a specific number of service hours, many fraternity members said this university's increase is a result of many Greeks refocusing their efforts on philanthropy and service.

Last year, members recorded serving more than 19,200 hours of community service, soaring 106 percent over the 2008 total, according to IFC advisor Amie Jackson. Additionally, chapters reportedly donated $185,661 to charitable causes last year, nearly $68,000 more than in 2008, according to Jackson.

Some fraternity members, such as Kappa Alpha Order President Greg Waterworth, said increased service shows members are focusing less on social aspects of Greek life and dedicating more of their time — including early weekend mornings — to giving back to the community.

"I kind of like how it's feeling right now," said Waterworth, a junior government and politics major. "There is a culture change that's trying to happen right now, and it remains to be seen if it will be successful, but I'm excited to be on the right side of it."

Because of other fraternities' success with new community service ventures, others — such as recently formed Beta Theta Pi and older chapters like Phi Kappa Tau that previously struggled to hold their own charity events — recently threw their first major philanthropy or community service event in years.

"I think it really has been internalized within each individual chapter and they look over to the left and the right and say well they're making great changes so we need to match what they're doing or even do better," said IFC executive board president Marc George. "It's great to see and I don't think we've reached by any means the peak of what we can do."

One of the fastest growing service ventures for fraternities has been their partnership with Kid Power, a non-profit organization that provides educational opportunities for underserved Washington youth.

Alpha Tau Omega began sponsoring the organization last year after members realized their annual Virgin Party — a non-alcoholic social that fundraises money for cystic fibrosis research and the HERO campaign, a program that promotes harsher drunk-driving laws — had high attendance but wasn't inspiring people to donate as much money as in previous years. Members of three fraternities decided to refocus their efforts on community service and began tutoring children twice a month at the university.

The project expanded this semester, and now members of more than 10 fraternities take daily trips to Washington schools to tutor school children. Additionally, Alpha Tau Omega hosted a carnival field day event for the kids last May.

"I think they're really starting to realize, ‘Wow, if we feel connected to these things and make it meaningful, other people will feel that passion too,'" Jackson said.

Waterworth also became more involved in community service last year and decided to take his chapter's annual barbecue for breast cancer research to the next level. The Breastfest of Champions, which is particularly close to Kappa Alpha Order because members founded it three years ago after their president's close family friend died of breast cancer, raised about $32,000 this fall.

"There's more collaboration within all of Greek life rather than individual chapters hosing their own events … and I think that's more of an incentive to get involved. You don't want to be the man that's not part of it," said senior journalism major Patrick Quinn, a former philanthropy chairman in Alpha Tau Omega.

lurye@umdbk.com