2008 Woodie Awards
Philanthropy Week raises $9K for homeless coalition
Bridgette Blight
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
11/14/07 - The fraternities and sororities at the University of Rhode Island raised about $9,000 for the Rhode Island Coalition of the Homeless last week during its annual Philanthropy Week. The week of fundraising events started with a Powderpuff football game on Sunday, Nov. 4 and ended with a date auction on Friday, Nov. 9.
Tashalyn Cosimo, president of the Panhellenic Council, was pleased with the outcome of Philanthropy Week. She was impressed with the level of participation over previous years.
"We had more attendance for our two new events, the World Series of Pop Culture and So You Think You Can Dance," she said. "They were more interesting to watch."
Throughout the week, there was a canned food drive and a penny war, where teams of fraternities and sororities competed to see who could collect the most pennies, which all went to charity.
Although separate totals were not available at press time, Cosimo said she believed the date auction raised the most money.
The total amount raised is only an approximation, as the final count was not completed at press time.
Although $10,000 was raised during last year's philanthropy week, Cosimo explained that the Greek organizations were actually more successful this year.
"Panhel and IFC had to subsidize costs in the past," she said. "[This year] we raised it all without using our money."
The Greek system decided to donate the proceeds from Philanthropy Week to the Rhode Island Coalition of the Homeless because of the timeliness of the donation and the need of the organization.
"Philanthropy week is in November, right before the holidays, and the cold weather is the toughest time [for homeless people]," Cosimo said. "There are a lot of homeless children in Rhode Island, and [RI Coalition of the Homeless] was the perfect organization for the week of our event."
Philanthropy Week brings the fraternities and sororities together in a competition. Fraternities and sororities are paired up during the entire week. Since there are 10 fraternities and nine sororities at the university, one of the groups was actually a trio, with two fraternities and one sorority working together.
The winner of each evening event, which included the World Series of Pop Culture, So You Think You Can Dance and the date auction, received points. Points were also given to the winner of the canned food drive and the penny wars.
After the date auction on Friday night, all points earned throughout the week were tallied. The trio group of sorority Sigma Delta Tau and fraternities Delta Chi and Sigma Phi Epsilon won Philanthropy Week.
Philanthropy week began at the university in 2001. Previous recipients of the money raised during Philanthropy Week have included the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Research Foundation, URI's Katrina Habitat for Humanity House Fund, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Katie DeCubellis Memorial Foundation.
Tashalyn Cosimo, president of the Panhellenic Council, was pleased with the outcome of Philanthropy Week. She was impressed with the level of participation over previous years.
"We had more attendance for our two new events, the World Series of Pop Culture and So You Think You Can Dance," she said. "They were more interesting to watch."
Throughout the week, there was a canned food drive and a penny war, where teams of fraternities and sororities competed to see who could collect the most pennies, which all went to charity.
Although separate totals were not available at press time, Cosimo said she believed the date auction raised the most money.
The total amount raised is only an approximation, as the final count was not completed at press time.
Although $10,000 was raised during last year's philanthropy week, Cosimo explained that the Greek organizations were actually more successful this year.
"Panhel and IFC had to subsidize costs in the past," she said. "[This year] we raised it all without using our money."
The Greek system decided to donate the proceeds from Philanthropy Week to the Rhode Island Coalition of the Homeless because of the timeliness of the donation and the need of the organization.
"Philanthropy week is in November, right before the holidays, and the cold weather is the toughest time [for homeless people]," Cosimo said. "There are a lot of homeless children in Rhode Island, and [RI Coalition of the Homeless] was the perfect organization for the week of our event."
Philanthropy Week brings the fraternities and sororities together in a competition. Fraternities and sororities are paired up during the entire week. Since there are 10 fraternities and nine sororities at the university, one of the groups was actually a trio, with two fraternities and one sorority working together.
The winner of each evening event, which included the World Series of Pop Culture, So You Think You Can Dance and the date auction, received points. Points were also given to the winner of the canned food drive and the penny wars.
After the date auction on Friday night, all points earned throughout the week were tallied. The trio group of sorority Sigma Delta Tau and fraternities Delta Chi and Sigma Phi Epsilon won Philanthropy Week.
Philanthropy week began at the university in 2001. Previous recipients of the money raised during Philanthropy Week have included the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Research Foundation, URI's Katrina Habitat for Humanity House Fund, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Katie DeCubellis Memorial Foundation.