Sororities making philanthropy a major focus

When juniors Mary Beth Kraft and Brandy Wortinger became co-chairs for Zeta Tau Alpha's annual male talent show fund-raiser, Big Man on Campus, they also initiated an unusual kind of relationship. Because so much of her day was spent planning and preparing for the event, which ended up accumulating more than $60,000 for breast cancer research, Kraft began calling BMOC her boyfriend.\n"People will think about their boyfriends during class and before they go to bed. Brandy and I thought about BMOC," said Kraft.\nLike Kraft and Wortinger, many members of sororities in the Panhellenic Association spend hours planning and executing charitable projects. Community service is a major part of being involved in a greek chapter at IU and a minimum amount of philanthropic work is required by all greek houses, said Panhellenic Association Vice President of Operations Erin McKeighan. \nIU's PHA sororities don't disappoint. More than $190,000 was raised for various research centers, hospitals and charitable organizations, according to unofficial data from the philanthropy representatives of 16 of the 19 chapters in the Panhellenic Association. \nMcKeighan said sorority chapters are required by the PHA to execute at least three fund raisers per school year to support their organization's national philanthropy. \n"Chapters always go above and beyond," she said.\nKraft said ZTA's philanthropic achievements are "a huge source of pride" for their chapter, but that she doesn't compare ZTA's efforts to any other chapter.\n"We've established this reputation of raising record-breaking amounts, so the pressure lies in being able to beat ourselves," Kraft said in an e-mail message.\nKraft believes the massive numbers result from an extensive letter-writing campaign done by the ZTA members to gain donations from corporations and businesses. Moreover, since BMOC involves participation from nearly every fraternity and sorority chapter on campus, the participation enhances the event's effectiveness.\n"While Zeta does most of the behind-the-scenes fund raising and organizing, which takes maximum effort, we would not have a show without the entire community participating," Kraft said.\nJunior Sarah Caldwell, philanthropy chair for Alpha Chi Omega, which raised about $7,000 last school year through fund-raising efforts, said BMOC's success encourages her chapter to extend their community service endeavors.\n"It's an inspiration to have a philanthropic event that big," she said. "We've talked about finding something that could in some way compete. They are just outstanding."\nPresident of Alpha Xi Delta senior Sandra Mutton said she believes a primary reason for BMOC's success is the involvement of all the chapters; women in different sorority houses served as "coaches" for the men who participated.\n"Zeta does an incredible job, but I think every chapter's involvement makes BMOC greater than all other philanthropy events," Mutton said.\nShe said this fulfills the spirit of greek philanthropy: helping one another out.\n"We definitely participate in everybody's philanthropies," she said. "We all help raise money for each other. That goes for everyone."\nMcKeighan said it's not unusual for a fraternity and a sorority to pair up for a team fund-raising effort like barbecues or co-ed sport tournaments to increase participation.\nThe Acacia/Zeta Tau Alpha Waterball Challenge earlier this year raised more than $2,500 for the Bloomington Fire Department. Delta Tau Delta holds a co-ed flag football tournament and Phi Mu paired up with Phi Kappa Tau for a chicken wing eating contest that raised about $3,000 this month.\n"The No. 1 purpose is to raise money, but it's also just to get to know more people and participate in an activity that's fun and rewarding," Mckeighan said.\nMoreover, greek chapters regularly participate in campus-wide charity work. Senior Chris Carlson, president of IU's Dance Marathon -- which this year raised over $675,000 for Riley Children's Hospital -- said three quarters of IUDM participants are members of greek chapters. "Our top fund-raising organizations are always greek houses," he said.\nAlso, McKeighan said greek chapters were well represented at this year's Jill Behrman Run for the End Zone and the Bloomington Breast Cancer Walk.\nBut in addition to donating money, many sorority members donate their time to local volunteer-run organizations.\nMcKeighan said this year members of different chapters are taking turns serving and preparing meals for the soup kitchen at Shalom Community Center, which provides a free meal for those who need one.\nMcKeighan said the widespread charitable work of the greek community should be highlighted more.\n"The bad usually gets spotlighted which is unfortunate because the amount of money and time greek chapters donate to national philanthropies is unbelievable," she said.