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Greeks do good. That's the unofficial motto for GreekBuild, a new Habitat for Humanity project run by Northwestern's Greek community that aims to erase negative stereotypes about fraternity and sorority members while also uniting Northwestern's four Greek councils.
"We want to capitalize upon the resources and manpower of the Greek system to do good things," said School of Communication junior Matthew Spector, a GreekBuild executive board member.
Starting in fall 2008, the project will combine the efforts of nearly 2,200 Northwestern students from the University's 40 Greek organizations to raise $100,000 and construct a home in Waukegan, Ill., by the end of the academic year.
Habitat for Humanity selected a family who will reside in the new house. The family is expected to contribute 500 hours of its own labor.
After fundraising for the first part of the academic year, the GreekBuild construction effort will begin in winter quarter.
Organizers say GreekBuild will be the largest service project ever undertaken by Northwestern's Greek community. "We hope to inspire chapters and Greek councils across the country to unite and do good for themselves and for others," said GreekBuild co-founder Aaron Jacobowitz, a Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences junior and president of Northwestern's Zeta Beta Tau chapter.
"For what they're trying to do in terms of a community project, I've never seen anything like it," said Dominic Greene, director of Northwestern's Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. "If they can pull this off, it'll be pretty impressive."
Visit www.greekbuild.org for more information on how to get involved.
— Alice Truong (J10)