The Penn State Interfraternity Council unanimously passed a vote to donate $15,000 in an effort to provide financial relief during the coronavirus pandemic.
$10,000 will be allocated to the Student Care and Advocacy Center and $5,000 will go to Lion’s Pantry.
“Through this donation, our purpose was to support both students in need and the local community at large. It is our priority to continue making a positive impact on the community we serve,” IFC President Nate Brodsky said in a press release.
The IFC executive board had been planning to raise money for donations since the announcement of remote classes. Initial fundraising efforts included a virtual NBA 2K video game tournament, which raised $200.
Additionally, the IFC and individual chapters contributed to the student-run fundraising organization, the Makin’ Lemonade Fund. Through this fund, $50,000 was raised nationwide for coronavirus relief in three weeks.
Penn State organizations have raised $6,500 for the fund that will be sent to the national Makin’ Lemonade GoFundMe, where the funds will be disbursed to the Center for Disease Control Foundation, the Direct Relief Fund and Feeding America.
The following chapters and organizations have raised the following totals for the Makin’ Lemonade Fund.
- Delta Chi: $1,208
- Kappa Kappa Gamma: $1,100
- Kappa Alpha Theta: $937
- Kappa Delta: $423
- Sigma Pi: $553
- Beta Sigma Beta: $337
- Alpha Gamma Rho: $100
- Non-greek organizations: Approximately $1,800
Chapters have also conducted their own fundraisers through social media to provide coronavirus relief to local and national efforts.
Efforts included posting donation Bingo boards where people pay a specific amount to fill a space and donation menus. Menu items consisted of posting comical videos or shaving their heads on social media.
