Sororities’ philanthropy hours improve

By LaNasha Houze
Staff Reporter

According to Service Census 2000, volunteer services among sororities in the Panhellenic Council improved last year, but many non-Greek students on campus are still unaware of sororities’ community contributions.

According to the census, sororities raised $77,557 last year through philanthropic donations and performed 15,417 hours of community service.

The census statistics represent a compilation of community service hours and philanthropic donations from all sororities in panhellenic.

Philanthropy events raise money for charity organizations such as The Women’s Center of Tarrant County, Court Appointed and Special Advocates and the Ronald McDonald House.

Catherine Berry, panhellenic vice president of management, said the compiled information is beneficial to the students because it’s an aspect of the Greek community that is not well known.

“A stereotype from the non-Greek community is that we are strictly social,” Berry said. “Volunteering takes a special drive. The fact that it is done so much shows we are more than just social groups.”

According to the census, the average number of hours of community service for each sorority member increased from six hours in fall 2000 to seven hours in spring 2000.

Trey Wallace, resident director for the Ronald McDonald House, said sorority volunteers significantly help the organization.

“Without the volunteers we can’t do much of anything,” Wallace said.

Katie Urban, panhellenic president, said service is a key element for sororities.

“People have an ‘Animal House’ mentality when it comes to sororities,” Urban said. “There is so much more to sororities than parties.”

Germaine Mikhail, a junior psychology major who is not in a sorority, said she doesn’t hear about the community service activities sororities participate in.

“I think that the number of parties that a fraternity or sorority has outnumbers the amount of community service activities,” Mikhail said.

Although the 1999 compilation statistics were not available, Urban said the 2000 numbers were an improvement.

“This information is a great start,” Urban said. “But we can still do more. We can push to do more hands on activity within the Fort Worth community.Erica Finazzo, panhellenic director of service, agreed more work can be done.

“There is always room for improvement,” Finazzo said. “You can never donate or serve too much.”

LaNasha Houze
l.d.houze@student.tcu.edu