UT’s Greek Week Breaks Fundraising Record for Third Consecutive Year

Last week, The University of Tampa’s fraternity and sorority life (FSL) organizations raised more than $76,000 in donations for charities, breaking last year’s record of almost $62,000. More than $30,000 was raised for Relay for Life, a community-based fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, while more than $46,000 was raised for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Some of the challenges throughout the week included bubble soccer on the softball field, a parade in the Sykes College of Business courtyard, sidewalk chalk art in the Vaughn Center courtyard and a variety show in Falk Theatre.

Greek Week, held this year from Feb. 21 to Feb. 26, is a week-long fundraising event that promotes unity and emphasizes FSL’s mission of service and wellness to the 1,400 students involved. Through competitions and educational events, each chapter raises money toward supporting community nonprofits. Some of the challenges throughout the week included bubble soccer on the softball field, a parade in the Sykes College of Business courtyard, sidewalk chalk art in the Vaughn Center courtyard and a variety show in Falk Theatre.

“The FSL community continues to outdo themselves every year by breaking records of the amount of money that is raised for Relay for Life and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which are two extremely important causes for our community,” said Hannah Rendon, coordinator of FSL.

This year, Greek Week also partnered with Gift of Life. Gift of Life is an international public bone marrow and blood stem cell registry dedicated to matching blood cancer patients in need of a transplant with compatible donors. More than 300 cheek swabs were taken for Gift of Life over the week, providing students with an opportunity to give back to the community without any financial commitment.

“Greek Week is not only about raising money, but unifying the chapters within our three FSL councils,” said Rendon.

Greek Week participants are from UT’s three FSL governing councils: Interfraternity Council, National Panhellenic Conference and Unified Greek Council. Members are then split up into seven teams to compete, with this year’s team theme being “Celebrations.” Each daily challenge is worth a certain number of points, and the team that earns the most points at the end of the week is the winner. Team Valentine’s Day (which included participants from the Delta Zeta sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity) won first place.

“Honestly, I think it is just the passion of each organization,” said Kelsey Rainville ’22, student coordinator of fraternity and sorority life administration, on breaking another fundraising record. “The friendly competition gets chapters fired up, but at the core, many people have been affected by the causes we support during Greek Week. It makes sense that the care people have for these causes are what allow us to keep breaking records.”