April was National Volunteer Month and to celebrate, collegiate chapters from around the Realm held True Gentleman Days of Service.
A TG Day of Service is any service project a group of brothers puts on or participates in. All collegiate chapters and colonies, alumni associations, and any other groups of brothers are encouraged to give back to their community by volunteering and performing community service year-round.
Below, we highlight some of the great service projects our brothers participated in last month.
Penn State-Harrisburg granted students a wellness day to give them a break from classes on April 7. Brothers at Pennsylvania Psi Eta decided to turn this wellness day into a TG Service day and spent a three-hour-long hike at Hawk Rock in Duncannon, PA cleaning the trails. Each of the fourteen participants was responsible for filling a bag of trash while wearing gloves to ensure nothing came back with them from the trails. This event allowed everyone to relax from their academics and enjoy the great outdoors, while also giving back as a group. This was the first event after their last initiation of the spring semester, which allowed all the newer brothers to bond even more and understand how important community service is to SAE.
Brothers at Fort Hays State, Kansas Delta woke up early in the morning on Saturday, April 17 to volunteer at the Arc of Central Plains thrift store, which supports local participation in the Ellis County Special Olympics. There they spent 4 hours sorting incoming items, tagging, and pricing clothing and putting the clothing out on the racks for display and purchase. They also connected with other volunteers of the organization, positively engaged with them, and spread awareness of the fraternity and SAE’s goals.
On April 18, a group of 20 brothers at Rollins College, Florida Omicron collected trash and other waste that had polluted Lake Virginia in Winter Park, FL. Brothers picked up a total of 53 pounds of trash over three hours.
Fifteen brothers at Texas-Dallas, Texas Chi helped pack over 20,000 meals on April 20 for starving kids in poverty-stricken countries with the organization Feed My Starving Children. With their efforts and the other volunteers, the brothers helped feed 20 kids for an entire year, making sure they went to bed with full bellies.
Has your chapter or alumni association recently held a True Gentleman Day of Service? Tell us about it here. Not sure where to start with planning your next TG Day of Service? Check out SAE’s resources, including event ideas, a planning guide, and tools for tracking and reporting your event, here.
