It’s Saturday morning, a time when many people enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee before catching up on tasks that just didn’t get done during the week.
For Thomasine Leon of Westmont and Joyce Meredith of Lombard, however, the garden and shopping will have to wait until they return from their bimonthly trip to the 2nd Baptist Church in Maywood, where they tutor, mentor and provide positive role models to a group of young teens from Emerson School in Maywood.
Leon and Meredith are members of the Glen Ellyn Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, one of nine predominantly African-American sororities and fraternities dedicated to social and community service.
Together, the nine organizations comprise the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), a nationwide organization established on the campus of Howard University in 1930.
Many of these fraternities and sororities have local graduate chapters in the western suburbs. There are undergraduate chapters at area colleges and universities, but what distinguishes the men and women of these fraternities and sororities is the work they do after graduation from college.
Going beyond even a broad notion of volunteerism, the members of these Greek-letter organizations have pledged a lifetime of commitment to serving their communities. Toward this end, members work on dozens of activities, give freely of their time, provide educational scholarships and devote hundreds of hours each year to enhancing the lives of individuals in their communities.
The Glen Ellyn alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta has approximately 75 members. In addition to the tutoring program, known as Delteen, the sorority is a partner with Proviso Township’s Habitat for Humanity, which it provides with substantial financial contributions. Later this year, the women will contribute some old-fashioned sweat equity as they participate in the construction of a Habitat house in Maywood.
The chapter also sponsors the Angel Tree project, a program that gives Christmas toys to children with one or both parents in prison. And there’s a scholarship program that raises tens of thousands of dollars and each year offers four one-year tuition awards and 10 to 20 book cost awards ranging from $300 to $700.
Larry Smith of Bellwood, president of Muxi, a graduate chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity with many members from DuPage, coordinates the monthly activities in which the chapter’s 70 to 75 members participate. Boasting an impressive roster of members nationwide, including Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, Omega Psi Phi is committed to preparing young men for leadership roles in their communities.
Smith himself was a beneficiary of Omega Psi Phi’s good works, having received a four-year scholarship to attend Illinois State University. From there he went on to law school.
“That’s one of the reasons I’ve become so involved in our organization,” Smith said. “I knew what it meant to me and to my family.”
Alongside the Deltas, Muxi members provide tutoring and mentoring to a group of students at Emerson School in Maywood. Besides the mentoring program, the chapter sponsors clothing drives, canned-food drives, a toy gun turn-in program, community leadership awards, a foster grandparent program and the C.D. Henry Memorial Scholarship program.
Muxi also sponsors the Omega Challenge, a program in which 30-40 members spend a day at various local Veterans Hospitals, challenging the vets in events that range from shooting hoops to playing cards. James Summers of Wheaton, a Muxi member and a participant in the Omega Challenge for the last several years, enjoys the event. “It’s just one thing that we can do to let the vets know that they are not forgotten,” Summers said.
Muxi also conducts an annual talent search of area high school students who have demonstrated an ability in music and the performing arts. The young men and women selected from this search perform in a full auditorium in front of their peers, families and a panel of judges.
“It’s inspiring to see these young people,” Summers said. “It’s our chance to say thank you to them and to recognize them in front of their peers.”
Frank Rogers of Aurora has participated in many Omega Psi Phi activities since he first joined the fraternity nearly 30 years ago. Among those closest to his heart is the 3R program, a kindergarten through 8th grade summer academic enrichment program in Aurora to which Muxi and many other fraternities and sororities contribute scholarships and other support.
“Our goal really is to help individuals, to elevate them to a competitive level and to contribute to strengthening their moral character,” Rogers said.
Maxine Planer of Bolingbrook is past president of Lambda Alpha Omega, the local graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Established in 1908 by 16 women at Howard University, Alpha Kappa Alpha was the first African-American sorority and now has more than 140,000 members in 800 chapters around the world.
The local chapter has about 60 members and is involved in numerous projects. Each year it offers three $9,000 scholarships and several $500-$1,000 scholarships. As part of their nationally mandated agenda, members work with the American Red Cross, the Peace Corps, the NAACP and the Urban League on a range of projects, including AIDS awareness and immunization programs. The sorority also promotes and participates in TIMS (Teenagers Interested in Math and Science).
The Lambda Alpha Omega chapter is also involved in a community awareness program that focuses on teenage sexuality and education, along with Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African-American fraternity.
Mu Mu Lambda, one of the local graduate chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha in the western suburbs, has more than 70 members who divide their time among many projects, which include the Go to High School, Go to College program, voter registration drives, career outings and scholarship and mentoring programs.
As members of the NPHC, each of these fraternities and sororities has its own distinct vision and goals, but all share a commitment to touching and enhancing the lives of individuals within their community.
This emphasis on social service begins at the undergraduate level, where membership in the fraternity or sorority is undertaken with the vision of pledging a lifetime of commitment to the organization.
According to Marcus Payne, Illinois district director of Alpha Phi Alpha, “We are primarily about fellowship and social peace. What binds us together, even at the undergraduate level, is the work we do in our community.”
In contrast to the stereotype of college fraternity life, membership in these fraternities and sororities is fundamentally about serving the community. New members seeking to become initiated must demonstrate a willingness to enter into a lifetime commitment of social service. For example, as part of their initiation, they might be asked to take a group of disabled children to a football game, visit a senior citizen center or commit to regular work in community centers.
As affiliate members of the NPHC, each local chapter engages in nationally mandated programs that can include voter registration drives, tutoring, scholarships and partnerships with nationwide organizations such as Habitat, the March of Dimes and the American Red Cross.
The manner in which each chapter implements these national goals is determined at the local level. Lisa Walton of Maywood, a Delta Sigma Theta who teaches at Emerson School, began the tutoring program last year.
“We’re trying to break the cycle of the troubled teen,” Walton said. “The girls look forward to meeting with us. They’re concerned about one another’s well being, and they know that someone is there for them.”
As part of their commitment to academic excellence, each of these fraternities and sororities has scholarship funds that have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to young African-American men and women who might otherwise not be able to afford a college education.
In the western suburbs alone, there are more than 500 men and women involved in these fraternities and sororities. This extensive network can be found in many communities across the country, comprising a national force of more than 1.5 million members.
According to northwest Indiana resident Toni Odum, director of public relations for the NPHC and a national officer of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, which is also active in the western suburbs, “To be a part of the NPHC, fraternities and sororities must meet a number of requirements. They must be primarily a social service agency and must have a highly developed structure of undergraduate and graduate chapters.”
The newest member of the NPHC is Iota Phi Theta. It was founded on the campus of Morgan University in Baltimore in 1963, just three weeks after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Like the other eight NPHC members, Iota Phi Theta began as the vision of a handful of individuals and has grown to the tens of thousands.
Dwayne Dixon of south suburban Lynwood, interim executive director of Iota Phi Theta, believes the fraternity may double in size because of the national exposure that accompanies NPHC membership. “To be in the NPHC means getting the visibility on a nationwide basis. It’s a very exciting time for our organization,” Dixon said.
Among its many activities, Iota Phi Theta has established a foundation that has distributed more than $250,000 in grants and services since its inception less than four years ago.
One of the foundation’s new undertakings is the Iota Black College Tour, designed to introduce high school seniors to historically black colleges and universities. On its first such tour last year, eight fraternity members took 47 students on visits to Atlanta University Center, Tuskegee University and Alabama State University.
Other members in the NPHC are Phi Beta Sigma and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities and the Zeta Phi Beta sorority. Like the other groups, these organizations have emerged from humble and difficult beginnings and flourished into a powerful resource in the lives of African-Americans.
From a handful of individuals seeking camaraderie and fellowship, the early vision of these fraternities and sororities has more than survived. It has flourished into a vast network of men and women. Working quietly within our communities, these men and women touch the lives of the less advantaged among us. In doing so, they touch us all.
