As per usual, Colgate’s Greek organizations demonstrated their charitable chops this year, from annual fundraisers to special events and involvement in local charities.

The Colgate chapter of Beta Theta Pi (Beta) held a silent auction, participated in the first annual charity hockey game with Sigma Chi, set up a food drive and hosted the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) AIDS Action Week banquet. They will soon be holding their annual end-of-year salvage.

Our Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delta) sisters held their Triple Play Kickball Tournament for Juvenile Diabetes and a Valentine’s Day Carnation and Candygram Sale and will soon host the Delta Ducky Derby. They have co-sponsored pancake breakfasts and the Sidekicks Carnival as well as contributing to SGAC’s AIDS Action Week.

Delta Upsilon (DU) participated in and, according to Philanthropy Chair senior Jeremy Scheier, raised the most money out of any student group for the St. Jude’s Up Till Dawn letter-writing event.They have also raised approximately $300 through collecting cans and can tabs for donation from chapter residents, chapter members and friends of members. In addition, all proceeds from DU’s Spring Party Weekend event will be donated to the Chenango Nursery School.

Colgate’s chapter of Gamma Phi Beta (Gamma Phi) held their annual Teeter-Totterothon and bake sale; continued their Clean Up Broad Street initiative; supported Panhellenic drives such as toiletry, prom dress and canned food drives; participated in fundraising walk/runs; sold pumpkin grams for Halloween and hosted pumpkin carving.

The sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta) held Valentines for Veterans, Breakfast at Your CASA, the Breast Cancer Awareness Coalition’s (BCAC) “Drink for Pink” Cocktail Party, a seed-planting event and free movie (“Ferngully”) at the Hamilton Movie Theater, a CK Bradley and Jess DiRubio Trunk Show for AIDS Action Week and a Couture For A Cause Trunk Show. They co-sponsored the Kappa/Theta Spaghetti Dinner, where raffle tickets were sold to benefit the Chenango Nursery School, and sponsored “Tracking the Monster” with SGAC. On May 4, they will sponsor Capture the Cure with BCAC. Theta has also contributed to Panhellenic Dress and Toiletry Drives.

Kappa Kappa Gamma (Kappa) held their Kappa Klothing Sale, the proceeds of which went to the Kappa Birthday Klub, which holds a birthday party for foster children living in the Hamilton area. They, too, sold Valentine’s Day candygrams, called “Kappa Kisses,” and co-sponsored the Kappa/Theta Spaghetti Dinner to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. They took part in the America’s Greatest Heart Run & Walk in Utica, baked dessert for a local food kitchen, participated in Clean Up Broad Street and personalized, colored and laminated bookmarks for 90 children at Central Nursery School as part of their Reading is Fundamental partnership.

The brothers of Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delt) have continued to bring the American Red Cross’s blood drives to Colgate all year. They also co-sponsored the Halloween pumpkin carving for the Hamilton community with Gamma Phi and the annual Easter Egg Hunt with Tri Delta. The pledge class of 2009 donated the proceeds of a 50/50 raffle to the Hamilton School District Book Nook, and Phi Delt was awarded Most Outstanding Philanthropy Program at the annual Greek Awards. In addition, they sponsored one of the weekly movies for local children at the Hamilton Movie Theater last semester.

Colgate’s Phi Kappa Tau (Phi Tau) brothers volunteered over 1,100 hours for the Hamilton Fire Department, Southern Madison County Ambulance Corps (SOMAC) EMT Service, various mentoring organizations, and Head Start Tutoring. They also raised money for their national charity, the Hole in the Wall Gang, participated in the Triple Play Kickball Tournament, spent time at the Up ‘Til Dawn letter-writing campaign and had the highest participation of any Colgate-based group at the Heart Walk in Utica and co-hosted “Drink for Drink” at their house.

Sigma Chi likewise participated in Up ‘Til Dawn for St. Jude’s and sold tickets for the first annual Sigma Chi versus Beta Theta Pi Hockey Game. Proceeds from the hockey game’s ticket sales went to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Theta Chi created an NCAA men’s basketball pool to raise money to sponsor a child in a third world country, co-sponsored a pancake breakfast with Tri Delta, donated food to the Hunger and Homelessness dinner, filled stockings for residents of Hamilton Manor, co-sponsored “Drink for Pink,” participated in the Heart Walk in Utica, took part in “Clean Up Broad Street” for a weekend, sponsored a movie as part of the Hamilton Theater Matinee Series for underprivileged children and their families in the community, donated to the Greek Week food drive, co-sponsored BCAC’s Capture the Cure and held a Slices-Eating Contest to benefit Madison Children’s Homes.

Chapters also volunteer for local philanthropies, such as Madison Lane Apartments, the Buildings and Grounds sons’ hockey game, Madison County Camp for Girls, Camp Fiver, Break Cancer Awareness, Hamilton Theatre Children’s Series, Children’s Bookstore Program, and Broad Street Clean-Up.

The national philanthropies with which each organization works are as follows: Kappa and Reading is Fundamental, DU and the Boys and Girls Club, Sigma and the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Gamma Phi and Campfire USA, Phi Tau and the Hole in the Wall Gang, Phi Delt and the American Red Cross, Theta and Court Appointed Special Attorneys, and Tri Delta and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.