Wabash College Fraters Raise Money for Local Boys and Girls Club
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - Wabash College has spent the holiday season volunteering time toward fundraisers to support the Boys and Girls Club of Montgomery County in addition to numerous volunteer hours with children.
Students have taken turns selling Christmas trees off of U.S. 231 on the south side of Crawfordsville. Fraternities and residence halls have been rotating work schedules of 3-7 p.m. every weekday. Alpha-Alpha Fraters also sold Monon Bell coins to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club.
"College students, and fraternities especially, too often get a negative rap and connotation," said Michael Raters, Wabash College associate dean of students. "We make a pretty concerted effort here to engage our students in the community. I think the most obvious way that occurs is through volunteer experiences."
Raters first realized what impact Wabash students volunteering could have on kids from a parental perspective. His son participates in a youth basketball league. Seeing Wabash basketball players at the Boys and Girls Club gets the kids hyped about seeing their role models play.
"They're excited to leave practice Wednesday night and head straight to the (Wabash) basketball game and know some of the kids playing," Raters said.
Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Craig Reeves said the kids at the club take well to having college students as role models, but it goes both ways. Some of the Wabash students even volunteer to be coaches for youth leagues.
"As much fun as our kids have, I think the Wabash kids have just as much fun," Reeves said. "You have your full-time staff and they work with the kids every day, but sometimes you need a change of pace and I think the college kids provide that. They're men, but they're still kids at heart."
Wabash senior Frater Eric Eder surprised Reeves in November. Eder, a member of the Alpha-Alpha Chapter, told Reeves his fraternity members were selling Monon Bell coins in hopes of raising $500 for the club. Eder and some of his fraternity brothers, along with his girlfriend Rachel Wolff - a DePauw alumna - sold the coins the week of the Monon Bell game between DePauw University and Wabash. TKE bought the coins for $5 and sold them for $10 - mostly to alumni and parents.
"It was definitely very successful," Eder said. "I had my doubts at first. But we were able to sell at alumni events and at the game itself."
Of the 240 coins ordered, Eder said TKE sold 210 of them and recently presented Reeves with a $1,075 check. Reeves said the money will go toward after school and athletic programs at the club.
Reeves said he won't know until a week before Christmas how much total money Wabash helped raise by selling Christmas trees, but is pleased to see the local institution help out.
"We depend totally on donations," Reeves said. "Without that type of support I don't know if we could make it work."
Adapted from a news article in The Review-Journal. If you would like to see your chapter news here, contact Communications Coordinator Tom McAninch.