For the last several weeks, members of the Northwestern Greek community have defied the urge for a lazy college Saturday. Instead, they start on an 8 a.m. drive to Waukegan in order to participate in GreekBuild, a collaborative Habitat for Humanity project through the Kellogg School of Management and all four Greek councils.
All 39 of NU’s sororities and fraternities are participating in the project, which involves fundraising $100,000 in donations as well as providing weekly labor to work on the house, said project co-chair Aaron Jacobowitz, a member of Zeta Beta Tau.
Although the group has not finalized a completion date for the project, Jacobowitz said it is going well.
“We have gotten lots of help and support. Involvement and interest from the Greek community has exceeded our expectations. We have been absolutely thrilled,” the Weinberg junior said.
GreekBuild began last spring as an effort to unite the NU Greek community, which is divided into 39 houses making up the four Greek councils: the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Association, the National Panhellenic Association, which represents traditionally black sororities and fraternities, and the Multicultural Greek Council, which represents Asian and Latino interest-based sororities and fraternities.
Between three and 10 houses have participated in each of the three events so far. GreekBuild’s goal to “decrease the social and racial stereotypes among the organizations” means that the executive board has worked toward hosting a mix of organizations at each build, Jacobowitz said.
“Before this, different houses had collaborated, but never all four councils. A lot of philanthropy is within your own house, so we wanted to start a project that was too big for one house. Now I know someone from almost every Greek chapter on campus,” said Molly Raisch, GreekBuild public relations chairwoman and a member of Delta Gamma.
The economic recession has made achieving fundraising goals more difficult, leading to GreekBuild’s partnership with Kellogg and their search for a corporate co-sponsor to help raise the required $100,000, Jacobowitz said. GreekBuild has not yet finalized the sponsorship, but has narrowed the field to two possibilities and will publicize the partnership once negotiations are complete.
“At Northwestern, everyone is over-extended, but it is such a fulfilling activity that people want to commit to it,”
Sororities and fraternities all have existing commitments to other philanthropic projects but have worked to make GreekBuild fit into existing frameworks, said Raisch, a Medill junior.
“My organization (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.) does service three times a week, but as (NPHC) we do one project each quarter … we are all going to build the house with the other Greeks,” said Cleyana Mayweather, a Communication junior and the liaison between GreekBuild and the National Panhellenic Conference.
SESP junior Julie Karaba, a GreekBuild co-chair and member of Alpha Phi, has been involved with GreekBuild since last spring.
“We have developed a great relationship with Habitat of Lake County and we are already planning what we want to change for next year. If things keep going the way they are now, it will definitely become an annual event,” Karaba said.
