University of Rhode Island Greek Life is raising money during their annual philanthropy week for Save the Bay, the Exeter Animal Shelter and Domestic Violence and Abuse Resource Centers in R.I..
Every year in the fall semester, the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council choose three charities to raise money for, and fundraise for these organizations in pairs of sorority and fraternity chapters. Panhel and IFC also choose a theme for the week, and this year’s theme is Cities of America. Each sorority-fraternity pairing will receive a city in America and plan their events and final dance song around this city.
Philanthropy week will take place this semester on the week of Nov. 5, and three local charities were chosen to raise money for.
“We have a lot of organizations that reach out to us, but this year we wanted to focus on local organizations that are part of our community,” Kelsey Gil, vice president of philanthropy and service on the Panhellenic Council, said. Gil is also a member of Sigma Kappa. “We also try to pick a diverse span of organizations that people in Greek Life will feel a personal connection to.”
According to Francesca Ordonez, a member of Alpha Xi Delta and vice president of programming on Panhellenic Council, Greek Life hosts a variety of events to fundraise for these charities.
“We always kick off the week with our annual powder puff football game,” Ordonez said. “The sorority members are coached by their fraternity pairings.”
In addition to powder puff, the Panhel and IFC will have a jeopardy event in the Ram’s Den, an on-campus bingo game, an off-campus alumni sponsored bingo game and a capture the flag event for the fraternity brothers.
The week concludes with a “So You Think You Can Dance” event, where the final amounts of money raised are announced.
According to Jared Hewitt, a member of Phi Kappa Psi and vice president of programming for IFC, Greek Life has already raised $79,000 out of their goal of $84,000. This money has been raised from fundraising outside of the Memorial Union, as well as chapter members spreading the word to friends and family and posting on their social media pages.
“Each pairing has a goal based on how many members they have,” Hewitt said. “We have three pairings that have already exceeded their goal by 200%.”
Every chapter on campus participates in Philanthropy Week, and they all raise money for the same organizations.
“Philanthropy week is a great way for everyone to come together and give back to the community,” Ben Arter, member of Pi Kappa Alpha and director of service and involvement for the IFC, said.
Greek Life also participates in Greek Week in the spring semester, which is similar to Philanthropy week in that all of Greek Life comes together to raise money for the same charities.
“Each of our chapters have their own national philanthropy that members raise money for,” Ordonez said. “It’s nice that during Philanthropy week everyone here comes together and raises money for the same cause.”
At the end of the week, the money raised gets split among the three charities, based on how big the organization is and how much impact the money will have.
In addition to their fundraising efforts, Greek Life has partnered with Greenhouse Gansett, a salad bar, who will donate 10% of their proceeds to Greek Life during Philanthropy week. The Panhel and IFC are also sending volunteers to the Exeter Animal Shelter.
Ordonez and Hewitt collaborated with the other programming co-chairs Megan Petron and Bryan DiPalma. Gil works with Morgan Ouellette, who is the philanthropy co-chair.
Philanthropy week is also organized by the Greek Life Student Affair advisors Alison Burke and Steve Simo.
“We’re only in our chapters for four years, but the money that we raise in those four years makes a lasting impact on the communities around us,” Gil said.