Kingston, R.I — October 14, 2004 — What do a game show, date auction, and canned food drive have in common? They’re all part of Philanthropy Week sponsored by the sororities and fraternities at the University of Rhode Island.
For the third consecutive year, URI’s Greek system will host a variety of competitive activities from Tuesday, Oct. 19 through Friday, Oct. 22. Nine sorority and fraternity teams will participate.
In addition, there will be a letter writing campaign for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, penny wars, and clothing and toiletry collections.
The teams receive points for money raised and items collected; the winning team will be announced at the Homecoming football game on Saturday, Oct. 23.
“Every year we try to expand and improve our events in an effort to raise more money for our causes, and we think that this year is going to be the most successful yet,” said Christina Mastrangelo, president of the Pan-Hellenic Association.
This year, all of the money raised will go to the Katie DeCubellis Memorial Foundation, a local organization that promotes youth leadership, education, and public awareness about dangerous situations facing young adults. The foundation was established by John and Meg DeCubellis after their 13 -year -old daughter, Katie, and her friend’s mother were killed by a drunk driver in October 1999. Katie was an eighth grade student at the Pier School in Narragansett.
Meg and John, a 1982 alumnus of URI and brother of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, will address students at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 19 before that night’s event. “It will be tremendous to speak to the students and of my alma mater,” said John DeCubellis. “The goal is to share our tragic experience so that we might, in some small way, help students with their own decisions and understand the potential consequences of those decisions.”
Last year, more than $5,000 was raised during Philanthropy Week, and this year’s goal is to double that. “I’m very excited about Philanthropy week. I think the events will help bring the Greek system closer together and benefit several organizations in a variety of ways,” said Ben Matone, the philanthropy chair for the Interfraternity Council.
“With organizations such as St. Jude’s and the DeCubellis Foundation we are really excited to do a lot of good work,” said Jennifer Siegal, campus events chair for the Pan-Hellenic Association.
For more information about Philanthropy Week please contact the Interfraternity and Pan-Hellenic Association Office at (401) 874-2913.