Greekfest raises money for charity, unites council

The Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, IU Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council join together this week to co-sponsor Greekfest.\nGreekfest is an annual week-long event where greek councils and chapters unite to raise money for charity. Chapters compete against each other for points by participating in various events.\nMoney raised through Greekfest will be donated to the Monroe County United Way. This year's goal is between $10,000 and $12,000.\n"We have kind of revamped Greekfest this year," said senior Sarah Crider, vice president of community relations for PHA. "There are more events that people can get involved in."\nThe first Greekfest event is a blood drive, taking place from 1-6 p.m. today in the Indiana Memorial Union Georgian Room and tomorrow at Teter Quad.\nMCGC representative Yi-Hsin Hsueh, a senior, said she is expecting a very successful blood drive turnout.\n"This year, instead of each house having a time block, I let the chapter members sign up and choose what time they wanted to go," Hsueh said.\nWednesday, greek chapters and the public are invited to attend a presentation involving two educational speakers. Jason Farrell of Positive Health Project and Rebekka Armstrong, an AIDS awareness representative from Playboy magazine, will be speaking about the dangers of drug use. The speeches begin at 8 p.m. in Assembly Hall.\nAlso taking place Wednesday night are the sorority aerobics at 8 p.m. at the Student Recreational Sports Center. The aerobic session will be led by sorority women and anyone can attend.\nFriday, chapters will gather from 5-7 p.m. in Dunn Meadow to compete in Greek Olympics. Chapter members will participate in events such as the bungee run, tug-o-war, dizzy bat, sumo wrestling and the three-legged race.\n"A lot of these events are new this year," Crider said. "We think these are going to be a lot of fun."\nFriday night, each greek chapter will be given five yellow ribbons to hang around campus in honor of Jill Behrman. Greekfest will conclude on Saturday with members of the greek community participating in the Run for the Endzone event which will benefit the Jill Behrman Fund.\nAside from the daily events, other fundraisers will span the entire week.\nJunior Javetta Pierce, a representative from IUPHC, said her council will be sponsoring a week-long canned food drive.\n"We will have a collection barrel at every Greekfest event," Pierce said. "People can donate canned food to benefit the Hoosier Hills Food Bank."\nThere will also be a Greekfest king and queen competition. Each chapter nominates a representative to have their picture put on a bucket and placed inside the Kelley School of Business.\n"People can vote for the king and queen by throwing in pennies, nickels and dimes for positive points. Quarters count for negative points," Crider said. "The king and queen's chapters will receive extra points as well." \nAt the end of the week, points are tallied and the chapter with the most points will be the Greekfest winner. Crider said that because MCGC and IUPHC chapters are considerably smaller than PHA and IFC chapters, points will be done on a percentage basis.\n"This is one of the first years that all four councils have collaborated on the entire week," Crider said. "We're trying to get the entire greek system really involved and enthusiastic about everything"