Giving back to Columbia a priority on Greek Service Day

More than 550 students volunteered for the optional Greek Service Day.

By Travis Cornejo

Published Sept. 29, 2009

More than 550 Greek students volunteered their time Saturday to various agencies in Columbia for the first Greek Service Day.

"This project has been in the works since last spring," Panhellenic Association Programming Vice President Brittany Perrin said.

Perrin said she and PHA Service Director Katie Steis spent the summer contacting agencies and ironing out the logistics.

Ryan Morimura, Interfraternity Council public relations vice president, said Greek Service Day was a way for Greek students to come together from different chapters for the common goal of serving the community.

"It's kind of unsung how much our chapters do," Morimura said. "We wanted to do something aside from our Greek service projects like Greek Week and Homecoming."

Morimura said it was not a mandatory event; most people came out because they wanted to be a part of a large service project.

"We just wanted to come together as a community and show how much we can do," Morimura said.

Greek students volunteered at organizations, such as Coyote Hill Christian Children's Home, Central Missouri Food Bank, The Salvation Army, the Roots 'N Blue 'N BBQ Festival and Boy Scouts of America Great River Council.

"All of the agencies were absolutely amazing to work with and they really made the students feel like they were making a difference," Perrin said.

Mike Miller, finance director for Boy Scouts of America Great River Council, said he was only expecting six to eight students to show up to his service event. Twice as many came.

Miller described the day as a positive experience and said the Greek students were cheerful and eager to help.

Kari Salmon, development representative for Coyote Hill Christian Children's Home, said she had about 30 Greek students volunteer for her service event.

"They were to wash all our vans," Salmon said. "They organized the toy room and toy closet. They power washed off the concrete slab basketball court."

Volunteers were excited and wanted to know more about the organization, Salmon said.

Delta Delta Delta sophomore Kim Gallagher and Sigma Sigma Sigma junior Cassaundra Gould were both volunteers at the Roots 'N Blue 'N BBQ Festival.

Volunteers for the event met at the Calvary Episcopal Church. A numbers of Greek students wore their neon "GREEK" shirts, while other students wore the new shirt for the Greek community, a neon orange shirt with the words "GO GREEK" across the front.

"We really wanted to promote Greek Service Day as a unified effort," Perrin said. "I thought the neon shirts would be the perfect way to stand out around Columbia without standing out amongst ourselves."

Gallagher's duties included crowd control and Gould's responsibilities included patrolling the gates.

"I'm bringing Delta love to Columbia," Gallagher said. "To show Columbia we care."

Gould said the purpose behind Greek Service Day is to give back to the community.

Morimura credits Perrin for the idea of Greek Service Day.

"She was really the workhorse behind it all," Morimura said. "She did a great job."

Perrin said she looks forward to making Greek Service Day a tradition for many years to come.