Greek Week focuses on giving

'Letters for the Better' increased Greek Week beneficiaries to 14.

By Kaylen Ralph

Published April 20, 2010

This year's Greek Week used the traditional competitive nature of past Greek Weeks to put a service-oriented spin on revered traditions.

Greek Week Co-Director Hannah Vargon said the Greek Week Steering Committee decided on the theme, "Letters for the Better," because it best represented a dedication to helping the community.

"This year, if you look at our mission statement, we're really trying to focus more on service," Vargon said. " 'Letters for the Better' seemed simple, to the point. It really portrayed what we were trying to get across."

Service has always been an aspect of Greek Week but one Vargon said was often overshadowed by other components of the overall event, such as the Greek Games and Fling competition.

"The fact that all the events go toward beneficiaries has kind of been cloudy in the past," Vargon said. "People don't always realize that, because they're buying a ticket to Fling or all of these other things, they're supporting the beneficiaries, so we really wanted to make that more of a goal."

This year, 14 beneficiaries will receive aid in comparison to last year's 10. Each beneficiary is slotted to receive $10,000. Last year, each of the 10 organizations received approximately $14,000.

Vargon said the steering committee decided to increase the number of beneficiaries because it felt it could do so and still satisfy the need of 14 organizations, even with the additions.

According to the 2010 Greek Week Rule Book, of the available 5,250 points chapter pairings can get toward overall scores, 150 of them come from beneficiary-related activities. Pairings can win these points by displaying their beneficiary's logo on their Greek Week banners, incorporating the beneficiaries into their Fling routines and through many other promotional tactics.

Chapter pairings are also encouraged to participate in an event with their beneficiary organizations.

Co-Director Sean Burrell said Alpha Delta Pi and Beta Theta Pi had the children from their organization, from Heart of Missouri CASA, over to the Beta Theta Pi house for a dinner.

Greek Week is considered a separate entity of Greek Life, but overlap is inevitable, as the two offices cover the same people.

"I think it's great how much emphasis there has been on service and the beneficiaries," Interfraternity Council President Brandon Green said.

Vargon said Greek Week is trying not only to build relationships that and make people aware of its beneficiaries, but also to let chapters continue to work with those different organizations.

"From what I've heard, and what I've seen from the different chapters, they've really liked it,” Vargon said. “And I know that the beneficiaries love it."

One of the biggest points of competition in past Greek Weeks was the blood drive.

Co-Director Robbie Penzell said pairings were required to have 90 percent of their members sign-up to give blood. Last year, there were more than 1,300 people who self-deferred on the first day alone. This year, no points were awarded for blood drive donations, which Penzel said has been a positive change.

"The feedback we've heard has been nothing but positive," Penzell said. "We saw over 1,800 people, and we got 1,600 donations. So everyone that came to blood drive intended on donating."

Penzell said according to the American Red Cross, the typical blood drive is 30 people, and though university drives are higher, MU's was still one of the largest university-wide blood drives this year, even without the points incentive. The ability for houses to mass solicit donors in areas, such as Lowry Mall and Speakers Circle was allowed this year. Donors were also able to schedule appointments and receive reminders via text message.

"In the past, you weren't allowed to mass solicit because it wasn't considered fair," Penzell said. "Mass solicitation in the past with points was completely prohibited. This year it was completely encouraged."

In addition to the blood drive, other service aspects of Greek Week included a food drive and penny drive. Last year's food drive raised a total of 8,000 pounds of food, a majority of which consisted of Ramen Noodles, which were given the same point value of cans. This year, Ramen was valued as less, and subsequently, more than 21,200 pounds of food were raised. Pairings could gain up to 150 points for the canned food drive portion of the service total.

"We're using the competitive nature to do really good things for the community," Penzell said. "Competition never really increased, it just was added to some things and taken away from other things."

Vargon said she agreed competition has always been at the heart of Greek Week, but by focusing on the beneficiaries, everyone wins in the end.

"No matter if you win or place, it will be a positive experience for someone other than yourself," Vargon said. "And that's what we're trying to do."