participation

In all honesty, philanthropy isn't as big of a thing as it should be to the fraternities and sororities, and it's not just here, most people who join Greek life do it for the social perks at most schools. However, philanthropy is taken seriously here because the houses would lose their charters if they just partied. Since sororities here have big memberships, the overall amounts they raise for their philanthropies is massive. UA's Greek life alone raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for a variety of national philanthropies. There isn't necessarily one major event that one particular sorority or fraternity raises the most money for because all the houses raise an absurd amount of money. Most sororities and fraternities though do have one bigger event that they each host every year... I know DG's is Anchor Splash, Chi O's is when they bring in their make a wish foundation child, Theta's is Crawfish for Casa, etc.

I know that most sororities and fraternities have a philanthropy point system... Basically where every member needs a certain amount of philanthropy points by the end of the semester or they'll be fined, put on social probation, etc. You can receive philanthropy points by attending a philanthropy event hosted by either your Greek organization or another Greek organization. So even though some people may not have going their sorority or fraternity for the philanthropic reasons, they still need to fulfill some type of philanthropic work on a regular basis while they're actives. Also, to the person who said there are few philanthropy opportunities here in UA's Greek life - you're so wrong. That sounds like something a bitter GDI would say because if you're in ANY form of Greek life here, you know how serious the houses are about their personal philanthropies and having their members be involved. Also, if you're in ANY form of Greek life here you know that sororities and fraternities ALWAYS have some kind of philanthropic event going on on a weekly basis.

When we have a philanthropy event we usually have a band crawfish and I'm drunk and stoned. Saying that, we actually found a bone marrow transplant which is pretty rare for a young girl in need from our last philanthropy event. It can be hard to get everyone crazy involved but we almost all show up and have events, even if the guys are just there to party.

the fact that posts #2, #3, and the second reply to #3 have dislikes is disgusting. it's a fact that the majority of people in Greek life here only joined for social reasons. like yeah we know that. but can the people saying they're in sororities but don't care about the philanthropy stop. you're the reason Greek life across the nation looks bad. at least pretend to care about helping other. jeez it's not that hard to just pretend like you care about the people your sorority is genuinely helping. the OP was asking how philanthropy works here at UA and those three posts explained exactly what it's like... I don't know what you could disagree with.