Beta members help with local landscaping project
We jratermty members
didyardwork Saturday
for low-income housing
By Erin Snelgrove
Oregon Daily Emerald
Despite drizzling rain and an
kle-deep mud, 20 members of
Beta Theta Pi fraternity arrived at
the construction site with shovels
in hand and wheelbarrows in
tow.
Ready to help landscape the
yards of low-income housing de
velopments, the fraternity broth
ers relinquished Saturday morn
ing to provide their services to the
Neighborhood Economic Devel
opment Corporation. By planting
trees, hauling dirt and performing
heavy lifting, Beta members
hoped their efforts would make a
difference for some Eugene citi
zens.
“We donated our time to NED
CO because we wanted to give
something back to the community
by helping build the communi
ty,” said Patrick Carr, the presi
dent of the campus chapter of
Beta.
Aaron Pocklington, the philan
thropy chair for the fraternity, dis
covered NEDCO by browsing
through the phone book. After
finding the program, he called its
director and asked if he and his
fraternity brothers could be of any
assistance.
“I picked this philanthropy be
cause the guys prefer physical la
bor,” Pocklington said. “I thought
working for NEDCO was some
thing they would be interested in
doing.”
NEDCO, a non-profit Eugene
corporation, builds affordable
housing for people who earn
moderately low incomes. By re
ceiving loans and grants, the pro
gram provides approximately 14
families with new homes each
year.
Sandy Halonen, the executive
director for NEDCO, was glad to
receive the help of the fraternity
men. Without their assistance,
Halonen said the landscaping
project would have been a lot
more difficult and time consum
ing.
“Having these young, strong
guys help us out has been great,”
Halonen said. “It was nice to see
them work with everyone to get
things done.”
besides the Beta men, owners
of the nearly completed homes
also helped landscape. In two
weeks, when the yard work and
the finishing touches on construc
tion are completed, the owners
can move into their new homes.
“I can’t wait to live here” said
Danielle Moran, a NEDCO home
owner. "It’s amazing that my
house payments are going to be as
much as my old rent payments.
Without NEDCO's program, I
would not have been able to af
ford owning a nice home like this
one.”
Debbie Hinderlie, another re
cipient of a NEDCO home, is
grateful for Beta’s assistance.
Most of the people moving into
the development are single moth
ers, so Hinderlie said the physical
strength of the men came in
handy.
“The guys have been doing all
of the hard work, and that has
been awesome,” Hinderlie said.
"Most of us moving into these
houses don’t have the strength to
do a lot of the manual labor, so we
really appreciate the guys helping
us out.”
Although not required to per
form philanthropies, Beta, and all
other Greek organizations, regu
larly engage in acts of community
service, said Shelley Sutherland,
assistant director to student de
velopment programs and greek
advisor.
“The University doesn’t require
the chapters to help the commu
nity," said Sutherland. “They do
it anyway, on their own.”
Other philanthropies being
held by greek organizations in
clude pool and basketball tourna
ments and spaghetti feeds or fun
runs to raise money for charities.
Many other groups do like the Be
tas and go out to do the hands-on
work needed for organizations.
Nate Bucholz, the vice presi
dent of public relations for the in
terfratemity council, said the hu
manitarian efforts of fraternities
and sororities helps to dissolve
some of the negative connotations
people may have about the greek
system.
“With philanthropies, the
Greek system pulls together to
help other people,” Bucholz said.
“By helping the community,
some of the stereotypical ideas
about Greek systems are put to an
end.”
Scott Bamett/F.memld
Beta Theta Pi Fraternity members Patrick Carr (left) and Ryan Comutt (right) plant a tree. The Beta house helped landscape a low-income
housing development Saturday as part of a philanthropy project.
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To find out more about fraternity and sorority life, call
Ross or Kristen at 346-1153
or visit Greek Life • Suite 5 • EMU Ground Floor
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