Brotherly Love Transcends Stereotypes
Zeta Beta Tau's Rho Iota chapter supports their community
By Maria Alejandra Cancino

Fraternities often get a bad rap. In the campus paper, we hear about their wild parties, their low grades, and their semesters on probation. But what about their good deeds?

Because of the outstanding work Zeta Beta Tau’s Rho Iota chapter has accomplished through its community service projects, this University of Rhode Island fraternity has been featured by URI’s Department of Communications and by The University Pacer, URI’s monthly newspaper. Now, members can add Student Leader recognition to their accolades.

Last March, ZBT started the “Mentoring Program,” one of their biggest community service projects. ZBT brothers work together with LINKS Laymen, an organization that coordinates volunteers for Rhode Island’s North Kingstown school district.  With the help of Maggie Skenyon, LINKS business and education partnership director and mentor program director, ZBT brothers have been able to mentor children in first, second, and third grade. The district includes Fishing Cove Elementary, Davisville Elementary, Quidnesset Elementary, Forest Park Elementary, Wickford Middle School, and North Kingstown High School.

“The kids who are selected to have mentors are kids who need extra attention and need a male role model,” says Paul Stoffer, ZBT philanthropy chairman. ”Some of the kids come from single parent homes, parents who are in the military, or don’t have any brothers at home.”

The brothers sign up to volunteer at one of the schools and then meet the children at the school they picked. “Some of the mentoring with the younger grades was a lunch buddy program in which the brothers would come in and eat lunch with the kids, talk to them, and play games with them,” Stoffer says.

Through the program, brothers also worked with children with learning disabilities. “They helped out a middle school homework-help club, in woodshop class, in high school Spanish tutoring, and in an after-school homework-help club at one of the elementary schools,” Stoffer says.

Originally, twenty brothers were part of the program, but they expect more participation when the program starts again in October. “It’s a treat going to the schools during the week, and you feel so great after leaving the schools, knowing that you’ve helped out the kids so much and had a great time doing it,” Stoffer says. “Getting involved in the community makes you have more pride about all your surroundings and enjoy everything much more.”

ZBT brothers have also participated in URI’s Adopt-a-Walkway program— a campus beautification project. As part of this project, ZBT “adopted” the stretch between the library and the Multicultural Center—the Dieter Hammerschlag Mall—which they maintain and clean four to five times per semester.

Between cleaning and mentoring, ZBT brothers made space in their calendars last January to help with preparations for a telethon organized by Meeting Street, an organization that works with children with disabilities and developmental delays. “We emptied the classroom where the telethon was to be held, stripping it from heavy equipment and other teaching materials,” Stoffer says.

Because ZBT is a historically Jewish fraternity, the brothers also hold an annual “Holocaust Vigil,” which consists of reading the names of holocaust victims all night. The vigil is sponsored by Hilell, the foundation for Jewish campus life.

ZBT’s good deeds have not gone unnoticed, as they are reflected in their numerous awards. ZBT at URI was awarded the “Brummer Cup” at ZBT’s 2004 national convention—the greatest honor awarded to a chapter. They also received the 2003 ZBT National Philanthropy Award, and for the past two years, the “Theodore G. Rich/St. Louis Alumni Association Award for Community Service Projects.”

“ZBT is the best thing that I have ever done. It has shaped my college career and me,” says Bryan Ferguson, president of ZBT at URI. “I’ve learned more about myself and about interactions with others than anything else has ever taught me. ZBT has taken what raw talents and abilities I had prior to joining and helped shape me into the man I am today.”

Contact Stoffer at stoff18@optonline.net or Ferguson at bryanwferg@msn.com.

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