Greeks participate in events to benefit charities

Southeast Missouri

Greek Week, held annually at Southeast Missouri State University, celebrates membership in the Greek community. Fraternity and sorority members at Southeast volunteered at the Special Olympics, collected food and money for donation, participated in Girls and Boys Club activities, cleaned up area parks, conducted a blood drive and sponsored the first "Throw a Pie" contest. More than 1,200 hours of service was volunteered during Greek Week.

Assistant director for student involvement Gretchen Weber said, "The Southeast Greek community proves year after year that giving is more fun than receiving."

The blood drive collected 530 pints of useable blood for the American Red Cross.

Through Greek chapter fund-raising, $40,000 was split between the United Way of Southeast Missouri, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Cape Girardeau Guardians Foundation, Southeast Missouri Special Olympics and Pony Bird Inc.

Through philanthropy and service projects, Greek students donated $16,000 to the United Way of Southeast Missouri. The long-term partnership with this organization enables students to recognize the impact this organization has on the community.

A partner since 2002, the Make-A-Wish Foundation was again selected because of the touching stories of wishes granted resulting from previous Greek donations. The $10,000 donation was evenly split between the Springfield, Mo., and Metro St. Louis chapters.

New donation partners

Special Olympics of Southeast Missouri, a new donation partner in 2003, received $8,000. For many years, Greek students have volunteered time at the area track meet.

The Guardians of Cape Girardeau, a foundation that assists fire and police officers and their families who are injured or killed in the line of duty, received $4,000.

To assist their expansion fund-raising campaign, Pony Bird Inc. received $2,000. Pony Bird provides residential, recreational, educational and adult day programming services to individuals who are non-ambulatory with profound to severe physical or mental disabilities. Greek students have also volunteered at the facility.

Additionally, 26,500 cans of food were donated to the Salvation Army.

Awards and honors recognizing outstanding chapter and individual achievements were presented to Greek students. For four years of leadership and service to the Greek system and university, Theta Xi's Lee Schlitt of Cape Girardeau was named Greek Man of the Year; Gamma Phi Beta's Carissa Sims of St. Peters, Mo., was named Greek Woman of the Year. For dedication to chapter and individual development Sigma Nu's Patrick Douglas received the Advisor of the Year Award.

The women of Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Delta Pi, and the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon were presented with the President's Award for Fraternal Excellence by Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins. This is the highest honor given to a fraternity or sorority on campus.

Highlighting academic achievement, 315 Greek students were recognized for achieving a grade point average greater than 3.5 during the past year and 117 for achieving a perfect 4.0 in that time period.

Dr. Tammie Stenger, Southeast professor of recreation, received the Professor of the Year Award for her outstanding teaching practices and dedication to students.