Giving back to the Richmond community

Who wants to take time out of a busy day to help other people?

At VCU, one answer happens to be Alpha Phi Omega, a Greek organization that tries to make a difference for students and the Richmond community through such services as a blood drive scheduled April 14 and 15.

VCU chapter of the national coed service fraternity promotes three cardinal principles: leadership, friendship and service. Not only does the fraternity help with blood drives twice each semester, but it also takes phone pledges for the local PBS station and places chalk for teachers in classrooms.

“It made me feel good that I was helping someone out,” said Ethan Beattie, APO’s membership vice president. “That feeling – the more times you can have that feeling the better I think.”

Beattie said he still remembers this feeling when he helped people while in the U.S. Navy. That desire to help others, Beatty said, led him to join APO in fall 2001.

As membership vice president, the senior history major maintains and recruits members for the organization. One of those recently recruited, Catherine Matheny, pledged the fraternity last fall.

“It’s always been important to me to be able to give back,” she said. “I’m majoring in urban studies and planning and am interested in nonprofit work.”

So far, Matheny’s favorite activity has been a service project called “A Playground for Katie” based in Chesterfield County that builds accessible playgrounds for children with disabilities.

Another APO member, Anna Ramdeo, who has the ominous sounding title of “blood chair,” works with Virginia Blood Services to schedule the on-campus blood drives.

Ramdeo, a member since spring 2000, said after a friend in APO told her about the fraternity she decided to join it. A senior forensic sciences major, she said she continues to work on the fraternity’s service projects.

“I like to make time for it. I feel like I’ve done something,” she said, referring to her desire to serve the community.

Ramdeo also has her favorite APO project, but it’s not the blood drive.

“I like the outdoor projects the best,” Ramdeo said, discussing a place called Camp Sky Anchor, where the fraternity helped clear brush, cut down trees and paint fences.

While Matheny and Ramdeo identified campus awareness and recruiting as the two major tasks the organization needs to work on, Beattie offered another idea. He said the group should focus more on building leadership skills and uniting VCU’s student organizations. Eventually, he said, he would like to see APO sponsor a motivational speaker on campus.

“If you’re not dedicated to service, it’s going to be hard for anyone to maintain membership,” Matheny said.

APO service requirements for new members include service projects, service hours with and without fraternity brothers, interviews with five fraternity advisers, brothers and the pledge class plus the completion of a pledge book. Continuing members must complete more service hours as well as foster a big-brother relationship with an incoming pledge.

Last semester, APO’s VCU chapter sponsored a little-brother chapter at Virginia Union University. VCU’s chapter helps set up VUU’s ceremonies and offers its members guidance on becoming a chartered chapter.

Students can sign up this week for next week’s blood drive at the University Student Commons, but walkups also are welcomed.