The Lambda Chi Fraternity Continues Its Philanthropy After Queer Eye

By Gretchen Smail | May 12, 2023

The Fab Five fixed up a New Orleans frat house in the Season 7 premiere.

The Fab Five fixed up a New Orleans frat house in the Season 7 premiere.

In Queer Eye Season 7, the Fab Five meets Lambda Chi Alpha at the University of New Orleans — a fraternity that one of its members says “no one knows even exists.” Alumni advisor Marco Perez notes that the boys are good kids who do a lot of philanthropy, and Lambda Chi Alpha is “probably the most active chapter in terms of what they do for the community.” But he says that, unfortunately, the fraternity house is also a complete mess.

Perez adds that several members come “from modest means,” making it harder for them to pay dues, buy the things the house needs, and compete with the better-funded frats. He reveals that the fraternity is not in good “financial standing,” meaning the Fab Five need to help tidy up the house and its members so that the fraternity can host an alumni event and bring in donations.

That certainly seems like an uphill battle for Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk, and Jonathan Van Ness when they first arrive. When they enter the house at 2 p.m., all of the current members — Josh J., Ryan, Ian, Josh A., Marco, Demario, and Cooper — are still asleep, and the Queer Eye cast jokes that the house is full of “lost boys,” who are sleeping in every “dirty crevice” they can find, before waking them up.

The frat boys discuss how the fundraiser money would go toward brotherhood retreats and philanthropy events. They eventually clean up, learn how to make a muffuletta sandwich with Antoni, and have a heart-to-heart with Karamo, where Demario opens up about his personal and financial struggles.

They end up holding what looks like a successful alumni mixer, with several former members pledging to donate to the frat.

Since filming Queer Eye, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is still going strong, and they have continued to hold philanthropic events. According to Instagram, they held a blood drive on campus on May 8 and put on a big canned food drive for Feeding America in November 2022. “Over 5,000 dollars and over 450 pounds of canned food raised for @feedingamerica, breaking a new chapter record!” they posted on Nov. 6 on Instagram. “Thank you to all the sororities who participated, none of this would be complete without y’all.”

Naturally, as a frat, they’ve also kept up with plenty of social events. They went mini-golfing with a sister fraternity; attended a spring dance; held a silly tug-of-war event; and took a graduation trip to Alabama together in March.

As for the members who were featured on the show, in January, Marco became the sitting president of UNO’s Interfraternity Council, which oversees all the frats on campus. It also appears that Ian and Josh A. are set to graduate at the end of the spring 2023 semester. They can certainly put Tan’s new wardrobe to use on the big day.