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First Book was founded in 1992 and is an international nonprofit organization with the purpose of giving children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Aspects promoted by both First Book and Pi Beta Phi include: The Literacy Site, Speed Read (a fundraising event providing a child with a new book for every $2.50 raised), Make Your Mark For Literacy (personalizing bookplates to donate books for low-income families), and the Virtual Book Drive (raising $125,000 for 50,000 books in 2007).
Being the first Greek letter organization to establish a national philanthropic project, almost 100 years later Pi Beta Phi still values philanthropy just as much. In 1912, Pi Beta Phi founded a settlement school in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to provide education and health care to the people living in the area's mountains. It has since evolved into Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, a renowned visual arts complex which now operates in conjunction with the University of Tennessee.
Our national Pi Phi projects include Arrow in the Arctic, which involves donations of alumni and members to provide support to the library system of the Yukon and Northwest Territories and Links to Literacy, which involves donations of books to local schools and also one on one time with children to help them with their reading skills.
The New York Epsilon chapter of Pi Beta Phi is involved with all of the above projects, as well as our own local philanthropies. We volunteer each semester at Unity House in Troy, which is a soup kitchen and shelter for the homeless and those in need. We also send sisters to Samaritan Hospital each week to read to the children. Along with the Panhellenic Council, Pi Phi is also involved in the Make a Wish foundation. One of our annual events is our Mr. RPI contest, which involves RPI students competing for the title of Mr. RPI through talent and question and answer segments. It is always a LOT of fun! |