Friday, January 09, 2009

Alternative Break Project by Phi Sigma Pi

Phi Sigma Pi was my fraternity in college and I must say that I am very proud of the organization and its members. I don't do enough to talk about all the good things this group of fine men and women do. Yes, we have men and women in our Fraternity and both genders are referred to a Brothers. (By the way many of our female Brothers are quite the feminists and still insist on being called Brothers).

I was very proud when a couple of years ago Phi Sigma Pi chose as their national philanthropy Teach for America. Phi Sigma Pi was originally formed at a teachers college in Missouri and this partnership keeps that link to our past alive as well as supports a worthy organization. Last year, for the first time, Brothers attended what is called an Alternative Break Project, where a group of Brother went to a school in Arizona to build a playground and plant trees for a school that had neither. This year, a slightly larger group of Brothers is in Shelby, Mississippi at a school where Teach for America corps members are working doing similar work.

This is the "official" blog of the 2009 Alternative Break Project.

The Brothers not only perform some manual labor (good for the soul, if not necessarily for the muscles), they interact with students, teachers, adminsitrators and even politicians in the local area as well as parents and other community members.

To be honest, there are times when I wish that such opportunities were available to me when I was in college. Hearing about what these Brothers are doing makes me want to take part as well.

1 comment:

Yesu said...

Dear Matt,

Let us know how we can help you promote the Alternative Break Project - sounds like an extremely positive initiative. We found this through Phi Sigma Pi and have a community of Greeks that would get involved.