Philanthrophy

Philanthropy at AGR Our Philanthropy program is now three years old, and has been an unprecedented success. In the past, the Social Chairman coordinated participation in philanthropies; we had very few service projects, no community service requirements, and certainly no philanthropy to speak of. We changed all that by implementing a comprehensive philanthropy program including: • several community based service projects per year • ambitious community service requirements for all members • holding our annual philanthropy. What we are most proud of is the sense of service that has been instilled in our members, seeing men do good work, simply because it is the right thing to do. Our constitution requires each member to complete 45 hours of community service per year. When the motion was passed, we all assumed that the philanthropy chair would be berating men all year to do the bare minimum, and many wouldn't. We couldn't have been more wrong. While collecting community service hours for this application it soon became apparent that 50% of our members already had all of their required hours done for the entire school year. Many members have gone above and beyond the requirement, and there is no end in sight. By changing our constitution, we establish community service as a basic tenet of our chapter. A sampling of how we spent our community service hours: • Setting up at OSU's AG Day • Career Development Days • Volunteering for the Dairy Sale • Tree plantings at Oak Creek • Agriculture Fest • Coaching Little League • Delivering pumpkins to Children' Hospitals and Senior Citizen Centers • Manning the MLK Jr. Pledge Wall • Volunteering at blood drives • Beef Blitz • Building park shelters • Beef Bowl • Trash pickup in the forest • FFA State Fair • Training FFA teams • 4H youth dairy judging clinic • FFA State Convention • Coos Youth Auction • Farm Exposition • Volunteer fire fighting • And much more — Alpha Gamma Rho is also in the process of pledging to the Oregon Department of Transportation's Adopt-a-Highway program and hope to have a stretch of highway to clean up this spring. As one of our many forms of positive reinforcement, the men with the most community service will be honored at our faculty dinner that is held every spring. During fall term we organized a pumpkin delivery. A generous alumnus donated all the pumpkins that he had growing on about a half acre in Independence, Oregon. We convoyed two pickups there, filled them with pumpkins, and delivered them to Doernbecher's and Shriner's Children's Hospitals. This was an amazing experience, going from Oregon's quaintest towns and going to its largest city, brightening the day for some very brave children. This was our most successful pumpkin delivery to date, and our most ambitious. Money was not collected, but spirits were raised, happiness was donated, and goodwill was shared. Alpha Gamma Rhodeo is the name of our philanthropy that we modeled on Agricultural Olympics that are held at some colleges around the nation. The Rhodeo was put on by a Greek fraternity, but our scope is much larger than that of most philanthropies on campus. Usually, sororities put on philanthropies for fraternities. Fraternities put on events for sororities. Mock Rock is one of the few exceptions, and they are just beginning to encourage sorority involvement. Alpha Gamma Rho recruits teams from sororities, fraternities, College of Agriculture clubs, and any mix or match of the two. Teams were encouraged to be co-ed, necessitating diverse participation. We had Greeks, non-Greeks, clubs, and friends all coming together to have a good time for a great cause. Alpha Gamma Rhodeo has no limit on how large it can grow in the future because there is no limit on who participates. This is OSU's first all inclusive philanthropy. AGR is a social and professional fraternity, the only one of its kind on campus. We are intimately tied with the College of Agriculture, and their dozens of clubs that helped make our philanthropy a success. Alpha Gamma Rhodeo consisted of six events: a sack race, milk chugging, a farmer's daughter/hired hand dress contest, nail driving, a shovel pull, and hay bale bucking. We had half of McAlexander Fieldhouse filled with excited young people. A team of six was charged $25 to register. This is much lower than the cost of entering most philanthropies on our campus. We felt that more people would be able to take part if we kept the entry fee low. We were very happy with the amount of participation, that enthusiasm that each team brought with them. Greeks often complain that the media never covers their positive aspects. Perhaps the problem is that Greeks never actively contact the media with their positive stories. Prior to Alpha Gamma Rhodeo, we made a conscious effort to contact the Daily Barometer staff and arranged for an interview and for a photographer to come to a coaching session. A photographer also came to the event and a cover story with a color photo ran on the front page the following day (attachment 4). The entire Greek system benefited from the article: Greeks were on the cover of the paper doing good and helping people. Heifer International is the deserving charity that received the proceeds from our event. Heifer International is an international organization that works to end world hunger, promote sustainable agriculture, enhance communities, and promote the status of women all across the globe. For a $500 donation, a pregnant heifer can be sent to the needy in the third world. The recipients are trained to care for their animals and protect their local environment as well. When the heifer gives birth, the offspring are given out to others in need within the community. This is how Heifer helps communities come out of poverty. Heifer gives out all kinds of animals, even trees, in dozens of countries. Heifer International is an agriculture based organization, much like our own. An Agricultural fraternity, putting on an Agricultural Olympics, for an Agricultural charity, with the help of the entire Corvallis community, is a real accomplishment. Over $2,500 was raised for Heifer International. That is enough money to provide pregnant heifers to five communities! Our fraternity is very excited about this success for a new philanthropy that in time, will only gain in momentum. Our goal is to have a philanthropy that helps as many people as the largest ones on campus. Because our philanthropy is so inclusive, we are very optimistic about the future of Alpha Gamma Rhodeo. The very next week following the Rhodeo, the Kappa Delta's Mock Rock rolled into our lives. This is the arguably the largest philanthropy on campus that fraternities can participate in. We placed third overall, an excellent accomplishment! AGR has a tradition of excellence in Mock Rock getting either 1st or 3rd place for the last 6 years running, that excellence was mirrored in every other facet of our philanthropic program! Our chapter has an excellent record in philanthropic participation, even in competition against houses with more members and financial resources than our own. Our penny jars in the Quad, are actually filled with pennies. Throwing money at a charity is great, but investing your time, your experience, your knowledge, and even your spirit is what makes a difference in this world. When we win philanthropies, it is not the result of a great philanthropy chair, or a few motivated members, it is a result of broad based support from all the members. Our members have put time into community service and service projects like our pumpkin delivery, and they are pushing the envelope even farther. We will never be satisfied with how much money we raise, as long as there are hungry people in this world, but we are extremely proud of our year in community service and philanthropies. All of our fraternity's community service combines to 6,373 hours in the last year. These hours are from a variety of projects, and from all members. Two of these members chose to dedicate nine months of their year in service to the Oregon FFA Association, putting off nearly an entire first year of college to travel the state hosting various leadership conferences and meeting with state senators and representatives. Each member performed an average of 59 hours of community service per term. Our fraternity is proud to help out our community and try to show people how caring that the Greek community actually is.

Service Projects in Detail OSU's AG Day: Every year the Agricultural Executive Council puts on AG Day, a time for the College of Ag to showcase its diverse activities and clubs. AG Day is a service to the OSU community and without the hard work of AGR's, would not have been possible. Member Aaron Duff planned the event. Career Development Event Days: Every year, hundreds of FFA students from around Oregon descend on the Oregon State Campus. During two days in May, they compete in over 25 different events that include leadership competitions, livestock judging, and marketing presentations. Numerous members of Alpha Gamma Rho insured that this event goes successfully each year. Ag Fest: Ag Fest is an event that educates young people, especially in urban areas, about agriculture. Pumpkin Delivery: Fall term, a pumpkin delivery was organized. Pumpkins were donated by an alumni, and were donated to Doernbecker's Children's Hospitals in Portland. MLK Jr. Pledge Wall: The week prior to MLK Jr. Day ASOSU's Diversity Affairs put a pledge wall in the MU. People were asked to sign the wall if they supported MLK Jr.'s vision for social justice and nonviolent social change. Participation in this event is especially important as Greeks can often be seen as not culturally diverse. Blood Drives: All members are highly encouraged to give blood during blood drives. Going above and beyond, some members volunteer at the drives to help the events run smoothly. Having friendly volunteers can be very helpful, especially to skittish first timers. Beef Blitz: This program is sponsored by the Oregon Cattle Women's Association. The event seeks to educate urban youth about the beef industry. Men from our house get to go to Portland and tell students about beef cows, ranch life, and their cowboy experiences. This is a great event that our members look forward to all year. We get the chance to bring the family farm to the big city. Beef Bowl: At one of the home football games fall term, the Beef Council in coordination with the Young Cattlemen's Association serve free beef samples to game attendees. With BSE and other challenges facing the beef industry, such activities are more important than ever. Trash Pickup: The first week of March, our members organized a trash pickup in McDonald Douglas Forest. Several pickup loads of trash were removed from public lands that we all share. FFA State Fair: The culmination of work for those FFA members raising livestock is the FFA State Fair. This event occurs in August each year and is held at the Oregon State Fair Grounds in Salem. 4H Youth Dairy Judging Clinic: A contest in which 4H youth develop their skills in Diary Judging, and cattle evaluation. FFA State Convention: The main event on Oregon FFA's calendar is the State Convention. This four day event changes its locale each year giving thousands of Oregon FFA members a chance to see various areas of Oregon and the types of agriculture of that area. Alpha Gamma Rho sponsors a scholarship at this convention for graduating seniors. Also members are actively involved in assisting with the convention. Coos County Youth Auction: The Coos County Youth Auction is a 4H and FFA auction program that teaches Jr. High and High School students involved in the programs about livestock management and feeding as well as money management and marketing.