Through a week of Jeopardy, flag football and dance competitions, the University of Rhode Island Greek Life plans to raise money for mental health and suicide prevention from Monday to Nov. 22.
The Greek Life philanthropy week supports four different charities: Mallory’s Army, which is in honor of Mallory Grossman, P.S. I Love You, which is in honor of Joseph DePalma, the Chris Collins Foundation and the Jordan Porco Foundation.
“All of those foundations, unfortunately, had a loved one died by suicide,” Olivia Vendas, a philanthropy team member and URI student, said. “And their families courageously took that tragedy and turned it into charity and are trying to make sure that no other family has to deal with suicide,” Vendas said.
Students who are not part of Greek Life but wish to participate in philanthropy week can contribute in ribbon wars. From Monday to Thursday, Nov. 21, a tent will be set up outside Memorial Union with jars dedicated to each chapter. Students can buy a ribbon from any chapter, giving said chapter the chance to win more points with each donation. Whichever chapter ends up with the most points wins.
The first event of the week, powderpuff, will take place on Sunday, according to Megan Petrone, the vice president of programming in URI’s Panhellenic Association. Sororities will play in the girls flag football game, which will then be followed by a game of Jeopardy in the Ram’s Den.
On Tuesday, Greek Life chapters will host on-campus bingo, with URI alumni hosting off-campus bingo for students 21 years old and older, according to Petrone.
After a day off from events on Wednesday, Fraternities will play capture the flag on Thursday, Nov. 21.
The dance competition, So You Think You Can Dance, will take place on Nov. 22, according to Petrone. At the event, 12 dancers from each of the 12 teams will perform a two-minute dance.
If teams move on to the top five, they will perform a one-and-a-half minute dance. Teams that move on to finals will perform a minute-long dance. Placement in each event will determine the distribution of points to each team.
Placing first in powderpuff would give the winning team 800 points, according to Petrone. Second place would get 700 points and third place would get 600 points.
Greek Life has already raised $91,000, as of Monday, according to Vendas. Greek Life’s philanthropy week raised $135,000 in 2023, $134,000 in 2022 and $109,000 in 2021.
“I think with all of our events this year, all the new things that we’re doing, I think we can hope to break the recent record,” Adam Gilman, the vice president of programming in Greek Life, said. “I would love to say [we will raise] $150,000. It’s very hard to do, but we’re really optimistic.”
To find out more information about Greek Life’s philanthropy week, visit @ uri_greeklife on Instagram.