AEPi feeds 8,000 kids on Parents Weekend

Members of Alpha Epsilon Pi will be making 8,000 meals for Kids Against Hunger during their parents weekend Saturday. Chairman for parents weekend Brandon Purcell said they want to demonstrate they are active through community service and philanthropy.

“We are a new house on campus,” Purcell said. “We want to show our parents and IU that we are benefiting the community.”

Lynn Abrams, mother of junior Joshua Abrams, a brother of AEPi, helped the men plan the event.

“They are back on campus, and they needed some guidance,” Lynn Abrams said. “They didn’t have older brothers to show them what to do.”

Lynn Abrams said they chose Kids Against Hunger because it is an organization that packages nutritious rice- and soy-based meals.

She said the benefits are huge, and doing it together is significant.

“Standing side-by-side doing this is really important,” Lynn Abrams said. “It is easy to give your time alone. It is a fabulous feeling to stand by your son and do something for someone else who needs it.”

She said the organization has huge impact locally, nationally and internationally. She said Kids Against Hunger encourages philanthropic work.

“They have done a great job coming together,” Lynn Abrams said. “Their heart is in the right place.”

The chapter has 180 brothers. This year there are 300 participants, which includes parents, some siblings and even grandparents. Purcell said they initiated a pledge class of 56.So, many parents are coming to see what they are doing.

“We are doing this as a philanthropy,” Vice Chairman of Parents Weekend Jonathan Fishman said. “It is more than raising money. Donating is simple. We want to immerse ourselves into the experience.”

Purcell said they feel they have to prove themselves, because they are a new house on campus.

“We want people to see how active we are and that we are doing things for the campus and community,” Fishman said. “It is a good bonding experience. We are good people and we are very active.”

The weekend will include dessert Friday night, packaging food for Kids Against Hunger during the day Saturday and a dinner at the IU Auditorium on Saturday night, which will be catered by the Indiana Memorial Union with a Jacobs School of Music quartet.

“I’m really looking forward to my parents coming,” Purcell said. “I want to spoil them like they’ve spoiled us. It is nice to show them what we’re doing and that we are on the rise as a fraternity.”