From October 2 through 5, 2011, the brothers of Kappa Iota reprised "ATO Goes Homeless," one of the biggest philanthropic event of the school year.  It is not unlike the charity drives that happen on other campuses, or those held by other ATO chapters across the country.  This event required lots of planning and coordination among brothers and other organizations to operate smoothly, and all in all it was our most successful Homeless event to date... Vice President David Busshart commented: "Every year we do better than the year before."

Things began Sunday evening when many came out to set up the "shantytown," as it was unofficially dubbed.  The basic protocol is to live "homeless" on the lawn in front of Wagoner Hall (the dining hall) in makeshift cardboard shelters for the duration of the event, collecting canned goods, clothes, and money donations in the high-traffic area of campus.  While the brothers do learn to appreciate sleeping in a proper shelter and see how the homeless live, it is only but a small glimpse into the serious world of homelessness and the lives of those in need otherwise in our urban community.  Our strategy is one of dedication, as camping outside for four days and three nights calls for some amount of dedication and sacrifice, and all in all, it is a much more effective technique than, for instance, a table with a sign set up in the student center.  This event required a level of interaction and responsibility, and  was hugely successful and personally rewarding.  It is in essence, a small camping trip and an incredible brotherhood opportunity for us to spend time with and get to know our brothers better.  Pledge attendance was nearly 100% for the event, and was the dominant way most of us became better acquainted with future members. On top of that, about six alumni were there at some point during the four days, as well as William Filmore, an Alpha Tau from National Headquarters who was in town visiting for a few days.

Going into the event, with the help of brother Tyler Grady and North Brunswick High school, ATO raised 500 cans by the time we started.  At any given moment there was always someone at the site, collecting donations from the students who lived in the apartments behind the dining hall, and the hundreds of students who used the dining hall itself every day.  We allotted nine boxes for UNCW sororities to decorate and sub-collect donations from their sisters on their sorority's behalf, and it was a great way to meet and build on good relations with the sororities.  We are truly indebted to their kindness, as many sorority sisters lent us blankets and sleeping bags of their own during those very cold nights, and even more of them prepared food and baked treats and brought them out to us in the evenings to keep us fed and happy.  The kindness and generosity of the students of UNCW in support of our cause is something we will not soon forget.  The success of ATO Goes Homeless is attributed to selfless acts such as these.

On Tuesday, October 4th, WETC reporter Claire Hosmann came out at 4 a.m. and covered the event live on television!  It was fun for us and a pleasure to meet such nice people, but ultimately the purpose was to get the word out to the community and let them know not only of our cause and how they can help, but to reorient the negative stigma that many can have about a Greek organization.  Indeed, many students on their way to class would praise us in passing about our efforts and wish us the best of luck.  It was a great moment when Claire stopped for a minute to listen to her in-ear receiver and was told by her producers that during the news coverage, someone had dropped off canned food at the studio after hearing about us.

As fun, memorable, and personally gratifying as this event was, it was the statistics that were the bottom line.  Kappa Iota raised 1,300 pounds of canned goods, over 1,000 articles of clothing, and $253 in donations.  This was all directed to the Good Shepherd Center of downtown Wilmington, NC, an organization that provides shelter and meals to those in need in the very community in which we live.  According to brother Busshart, they were elated to receive such a substantial amount and could put it to good use right away.

An estimated 45 to 50 brothers at least made an appearance at some point or another at the homeless event, collectively donating over 300 hours of community service time.  We are proud of what our chapter has done, and we are counting down the days until we can do it again.

News footage can be found online here, here, and here.

Our own chapter's compilation reel can be found by clicking this.