Callie France
The UCA Greek community ended the year with an increased amount of volunteer time and money donated to local schools and nonprofits.Greeks donated a total of 13,654 volunteer hours and $29,946.44 in monetary donations to 179 different organizations during the 2012-2013 academic year.
The hours and money donated this year is significant because the UCA Fraternity/Sorority community continues to show they care about the greater good, said Lindsey Osborne, director of sorority life. “While social development has value, contributions the fraternity and sorority members make to the community demonstrate how much they care about helping others.”
UCA had 21 total sororities and fraternities for both the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic years. These organizations increased their contributions over the last year raising $21,923.22 and donating 11,374 community service hours in 2011-2012.
Greeks donated time and money to more than 150 different events and organizations with some racking up extreme levels of donations.
Last Chance Arkansas received no money from Greeks, but the organization did receive nearly 1800 hours in volunteer service. Last Chance is a non-profit animal rescue organization. Greek organizations provided temporary shelter for pets throughout the year before the animals were adopted. Osborne said th students keep these dogs anywhere from a day or two up to several weeks until they are adopted by families in the East or Northeast regions of the United States where the spay and neuter laws are much more stringent.
“We provide love and care such as holding them, playing with them, walking them, grooming, bathing, feeding, etc. The work occurs anytime and almost all the time. I have had seven or eight puppies I’ve fostered just in 2013. I began recruiting my sorority sisters and their boyfriends to foster dogs,” said Callie France, executive board member of Alpha Sigma Tau. “More than 800 dogs are put to sleep every year, and this helps to save innocent lives and better our community. I have loved being a part of this, and it’s heartwarming to help these animals who are in need of a human’s love & affection.”
In addition to Alpha Sigma Tau, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Sigma, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Sigma Kappa all provided shelter for pets at Last Chance Arkansas.
“Service is one of the principles Greek letter organizations were founded on. Service agencies have long depended on the dedication and generous time contributed to the community by UCA Greeks. They continually reach out to the fraternity/sorority community when support is needed and Greek organizations consistently fulfill those needs,” Osborne said.