Greek philanthropy chairs work for others

Zeta Tau Alpha’s Big Man on Campus won’t be until mid-October, but philanthropy chairwoman and sophomore Kalina Dalecki is already creating and staffing 16 different committees that will ultimately help sponsor the event. 

This is the life of a philanthropy chair. Each greek organization has one, while the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association have vice presidents of community involvement. These are the people who ensure all the organizations sponsor and attend philanthropic events both within the greek community and the Bloomington community at large.

“It’s necessary,” said junior and IFC vice president of community involvement Joe Hodorowicz. “We have the numbers. So why not? Why not do your part? It’s so easy to live that relaxed life being a college student, but challenge yourself.”

While philanthropic chairs focus more on raising money, Hodorowicz tries to educate chapters about causes and inform of them of volunteering opportunities. 

“Once you offer education about your causes, it’s a lot easier to get involved. That’s key,” Hodorowicz said. “With education comes passion.”

Dalecki said it was her involvement in and the success of last year’s event that made her want to take more of a leadership role within the house.

“When the time came around, that show came around and we raised that total, it was just the best feeling ever,” Dalecki said. “All the little things and hard work we did — what we’re doing really does help people and make a difference.”

Sorority members elected Dalecki to the position in November, shortly after the 2009 BMOC. Her role involves a lot of organization, planning and keeping track of other philanthropies happening throughout the campus.

“There is a lot of responsibility always trying to organize 140 girls,” Dalecki said. “And that does get tiring and stressful, especially trying to stay on top of your school work, trying to stay involved and get everything done while working on such a large event.”
Though Dalecki can only anticipate, she said she is most excited about the senses of relief and accomplishment that will accompany a successful BMOC.

Sigma Chi philanthropy chairman and sophomore Andrew Morrow was elected by his fraternity in September and was largely responsible for planning and orchestrating last week’s philanthropic event Derby Days.

“It’s exciting to give back to so many charities,” Morrow said. “As a philanthropy chair, I’m philanthropy-minded, and a lot of people are. They want to help out as much as they can. But there’s so much going on that it gets frustrating because you can’t help out everybody.”

Executive officers seem to agree that it takes a lot of balance and planning.

“With the greek community, we’re really lucky because we can network, but all students should be philanthropically minded,” Morrow said. “Hopefully you just do more good at the end of the day than you thought you could.”