In a time when fraternities are trying to recover from the stereotypic connotation of cruel "hazing" and excessive beer consumption, it was both exciting and challenging for the Champaign Park District to learn last summer that we would be the recipient of over 1,000 hours of manpower provided by 450 members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Alpha Tau Omega is credited with originating and promoting the concept of Help Week, substituting constructive campus and community service projects for the humiliating pre-initiation "hell week" practices of earlier years. Help Week has become the accepted standard for membership education programs of national fraternities and sororities.

The project began when the local ATO administrators prepared for their National Convention to be held in Champaign. The convention planning team contacted the Voluntary Action Center, a United Way agency that channels volunteers to local agencies. After hearing the types of projects the fraternity required, the VAC referred the group to the Champaign Park District.

After meeting with the convention coordinator and determining their prerequisites (2 1/2 hours, a Saturday afternoon in August) and desires (they preferred that the men all be in one basic area as opposed to scattering them all across the community at various parks and recreation centers), the Park District began developing a package for what would become a huge, yet profitable, example of volunteerism in a parks and recreation agency.

At a suggestion from ATO the men were to be divided into 16 groups of twenty-five men. Determining the actual projects involved trodding along the district's creeks, parks and bikeways recording needed maintenance tasks. Criteria for selection of projects was to seek jobs that presented a little more challenge than litter pick-up (though this was an option at each site) yet not so difficult that it would require extensive follow-up by the Park District's operations staff. These projects were then placed on a master list that indicated site, task and needed tools.

Providing tools and equipment was the most difficult aspect of the ATO project. The director of operations and crew recruited additional tools via loans from school districts and neighboring park districts. These borrowed tools were labeled and divided by work site.

After the planning for the project was completed, the final week was spent in daily staff briefing sessions. These sessions provided the director of operations and two of his crew a chance to review the plans with the

Fraternity men deliver soil for the Champaign Park District's sled hill.

(Continued on page 40)

Illinois Parks and Recreation 36 January/February

(Cont. from p. 36)

district's coordinator of volunteers and to look for any potential conflicts or areas weak in organization. The Park District's responsibilities were primarily in the work aspects of this community service project, however the district did work closely with the fraternity on transportation (shuttle buses from the dorm headquarters to the parks) and with publicity.

Finally, on a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon, 450 young adult fraternity men, clad in ATO t-shirts and gym trunks descended on the Champaign Park District parks along the "Greenbelt Parkway". For many this was the first exposure to volunteer work, yet all met their assignment with enthusiasm.

For the next 2 1/2 hours on this hot August afternoon men with paint brushes, wheelbarrows, shovels, and plastic trash bags, cleaned up and made improvements to the southwest portion of the Champaign Park District's parks. At the end of the project the 400 tired, slightly sunburnt bodies celebrated their service with a trip down the water slide and a dip into the Park District's adjacent pool. Free Pepsi was provided while the men waited for the shuttle buses to return them to the dorms.

The Champaign Park District's collaboration with Alpha Tau Omega was a major undertaking that required meticulous organization and inter-departmental communication and cooperation. There were also

(Continued on page 42)

Illinois Parks and Recreation 40 January/February

(Cont. from p. 40)

costs involved: paint, litter bags, disposable paint brushes, and supervisory staff time. However, the project resulted in cleaner parks and the completion of projects that might not otherwise have been undertaken, and good public relations in the community. The profitable teamwork between fraternity and park district generated positive publicity for both organizations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Pat Sims Hechenberger, Coordinator of Volunteers for the Champaign Park District, is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in recreation administration. She formerly was Executive Director of the Gwinnett County Family YMCA in Georgia.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 42 January/ February