Greeks Fill Shoeboxes For Needy Children

Operation Christmas Child collected an estimated 767 shoe boxes, all filled with small presents, in the parking lot of Morehead Planetarium. The boxes will go to more than 100 countries, including Kosovo, Serbia and Uzbekistan.

Students filled the boxes with small presents such as candy canes, coloring books and stuffed animals, as well as essentials such as toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Delta Delta Delta sorority contributed the most boxes at 96, but fraternity Phi Delta Theta, which has 60 members, had the highest participation rate, with 100 percent of its members donating boxes.

The project is an offshoot of Samaritan's Purse, which is a worldwide nonprofit Christian organization. It is run by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham. "They go to all the places in the world to help in disaster areas," said Jan Drake, one of the organizers of Operation Christmas Child. "This is a micro version of what they do."

Operation Christmas Child began last year at UNC, when Drake and Ann Maxwell, 1975 UNC alumnae, brought the idea to their former sorority, Alpha Delta Pi.

Drake, along with her family, had participated in Operation Christmas Child for years, but when she got together with Maxwell and discussed the program, she expanded her participation to include UNC students. "Jan Drake and I thought, 'Hmm, maybe the kids at UNC would be interested,'" Maxwell said.

After working with Alpha Delta Pi to collect 95 boxes, they decided to bring the project to a wider spectrum of the Greek community. Drake said she and Maxwell hope to extend the project to the entire University by next year.

More than 17 sororities and fraternities participated Friday. A U-Haul truck stood by to collect boxes between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. As the Greek organizations brought their boxes, they hung posters with their house symbols and the number of boxes they collected on the side of the truck.

At about 3:30 p.m., Chancellor James Moeser came to congratulate the groups that participated in the project. He was thrilled when he heard the number of boxes collected. "This is just a great sign of the commitment from the students."

Executives of the Interfraternity Council were happy the Greek community had an opportunity to participate in the program.

Wyatt Dickson, president of the IFC, said he thinks the program was a great way to give something to the world. "I think it was a wonderful opportunity to do something," he said. "It is a great cause."

IFC Vice President Walt Crayton said that despite the sometimes negative perception of Greek life, fraternities and sororities try to be positive organizations. "The whole Greek community gets a bad rap," he said. "But we try to do good things for the community."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.