Delta Upsilon finishes 3 weeks of bell ringing for Salvation Army

The fraternity raised approximately $520 in its first week of volunteering.

By Travis Cornejo

Published Dec. 20, 2009

Delta Upsilon finished its third and final week of bell ringing for The Salvation Army yesterday. The fraternity rang bells 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Delta Upsilon President Nick Park said the fraternity's executive board was stationed at The Salvation Army for Greek Service Day in September.

“It’s a really great organization,” Park said.

Park said the fraternity turned in its first two buckets. It raised approximately $520 in its first week of volunteering. The money raised will go directly toward Columbia’s Salvation Army. Faculty, Greek students and non-Greek students have all donated.

“Our goal was to do a $100 day,” Park said. “Since it’s never been done before, we really don’t know what to shoot for. We can’t really gauge it.”

Park said the executive board came up with the idea to bell ring for The Salvation Army after hearing people from it speak about how they raised money for their organization.

Jim Chapman, The Salvation Army Harbor House director, talked about some of the volunteer opportunities the organization has while the men of Delta Upsilon volunteered.

“They got excited about the bell ringing prospects,” Chapman said. “They were going to try to see if they could set up a kettle on their property. That’s how the whole thing got started.”

Greek Life Director Janna Basler said she loves that Delta Upsilon got the idea to bell ring for The Salvation Army after being stationed there for Greek Service Day.

“The reason why they want to do this is because they saw where the money went,” Basler said. “That is a true reason to do service.”

Park said volunteering is not mandatory for the fraternity members. Shifts lasted for one hour and required at least one member.

“We try to have two people out there so one guy doesn’t get bored,” Park said.

Park said he volunteered for each of the 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. shifts for the entire three weeks. He said he tried to be set up outside by 7:45 a.m. or else he missed a lot of people on their way to classes.

“I felt it would be pretty hard to say we’re doing this from 8 to 6 and not have me step up,” Park said.

Park said he had a really good group of men volunteer for the remaining shifts of the day. Their house has approximately 130 men and on any given day, there are about 20 different members who went out to bell ring.

“It’s so easy to do something so big,” Park said. “You walk right outside the house and stand there for an hour.”

Park said volunteering to bell ring for The Salvation Army is something Delta Upsilon has already talked about doing next year as well.

“I’m glad to see it happened,” Chapman said. “It’s a great effort on their part, and it does help us out greatly.”