WATCH: UC s Greek Week Raises More Than $31,000 and Delivers More Than 1,700 Pounds of Food to the Freestore Foodbank

Greek Week 2013 at the University of Cincinnati raised $31,026.59 and collected 1,735 pounds of food donations to support the efforts of Cincinnati’s Freestore Foodbank. The success of Greek Week 2013 was announced at the annual Greek Awards Banquet on April 18.

Leah Howell, program manager for Fraternity and Sorority Life at UC, says the food donations alone were enough to provide 1,445 meals for hungry families in Cincinnati. In addition, Howell says 130 members of UC’s Greek organizations contributed to the Hoxworth Blood Center, University of Cincinnati All-Campus Blood Drive.

“We truly appreciate the support of UC’s Greek community as we work to serve our neighbors in need,” said Kurt Reiber, president and CEO of the Freestore Foodbank.

“The students’ monetary and canned good donations will help provide nearly 95,000 meals to those who need it most.”

The top sorority and fraternity fundraisers for the Nickelodeon-themed Greek Week were Chi Omega Sorority and Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. In addition, the overall winners of Greek Week 2013 were Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and Chi Omega Sorority.

Howell adds that hundreds of members of Greek organizations turned on McMicken Commons on April 9 for Greek Week’s “Evening of Service” event, which involved building health-and-hygiene packs to be distributed by the Freestore Foodbank. Students were asked to collect soap, travel-size hand lotion, cotton washcloths, travel-size hand sanitizers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant and dental floss to assemble in individual packages. Howell says students assembled 200 kits in less than 15 minutes.

The first place winners of the CAN We Build It competition (featured in the above video) were Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and Chi Omega Sorority.

Greek Life at UC

Greek Life has been part of the University of Cincinnati since 1840, when Beta Theta Phi established at what was then Cincinnati College. UC has 22 fraternities and 14 sororities with a total of 2,500 members. They hold an overall grade-point-average of 3.10, exceeding the all-university GPA.

Howell reports UC’s Greek community contributes more than 7,500 hours of community service per year.

About the Freestore Foodbank

The Freestore Foodbank is the largest emergency food and services provider to children and families in the Tristate. The organization is a trusted partner to more than 275 nonprofit member agencies spread across 20 counties, through which it distributes over 16 million meals and other products to more than 300,000 individuals annually. By providing emergency food distribution, the Freestore Foodbank works to determine the root causes of poverty and food insecurity and is able to provide an array of services (emergency clothing, housing services, Food Stamps assistance, Medicaid outreach and others) aimed at creating self-reliance. The Freestore Foodbank is a member of Feeding America. Visit

www.freestorefoodbank.org

for more information.