The Rutgers Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (OFSA) recently organized a Service and Philanthropy Week from November 14 to November 18, according to the office’s getINVOLVED page.
The week featured events such as Elijah’s Promise Day, O’Bagel Promo Day, Hype Knight and a greek life food drive, all of which occurred around the College Avenue campus and downtown New Brunswick.
Connor Genitempo, a Rutgers Business School senior and president of the University’s Interfraternity Council, said this year’s Service and Philanthropy Week was the first ever held, and he hopes it continues as a yearly tradition.
He said the week was a collaborative initiative managed by the Rutgers University Dance Marathon (RUDM) team and Rutgers greek life’s four governing councils.
The week’s events supported non-profit organizations such as the Embrace Kids Foundation, Elijah’s Promise Community Kitchen and the on-campus Rutgers Student Food Pantry.
Genitempo said participants in Elijah’s Promise Day assembled approximately 400 donation packages containing food and other necessities for the community kitchen.
O’Bagel Day, a fundraiser in which the local establishment donated a 10th of its sales that day to the Embrace Kids Foundation, resulted in more than $300 being raised.
He said the greek life food drive collected nearly 2,000 donations of various non-perishables for the Rutgers Student Food Pantry.
Genitempo said that these events sought not only to serve these aforementioned nonprofits but also to build a sense of solidarity among all participating organizations and drive engagement with RUDM.
For example, the week’s Hype Knight event brought together fraternities and sororities to compete in a creative showcase of film-inspired presentations while the week’s Instagram Liking Competition allowed greek life members to promote RUDM online, he said.
