The Chapel Hill branch of the Boys and Girls Club will be able to expand its operations in the coming months thanks to UNC’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity chapter.
The fraternity’s new member education program — which inspired them to help the club — was developed in fraternities across the nation to encourage Greek pledges to delve into philanthropy.
UNC-CH freshmen and Phi Delta Theta pledges Louis Stephens, Brian Smith and Swain Molster are part of the new member education program. As a team, the three students were provided a $15,000 grant from the Triad Foundation to distribute to a group they thought deserved the money.
The fraternity gave the money to the Boys and Girls Club for building renovations and the construction of a new addition to the club’s current location on Johnson Street in Chapel Hill.
Stephens said the team had to first determine which local organizations had the greatest needs — then they had to evaluate which organizations had the most efficient plan to allocate the grant.
“We felt that the Boys and Girls Club was a good choice because they are making a new start,” he said. “The renovations resulting from the money will benefit 50 children, and that’s only the beginning.”
Sarah Marion, the club’s eastern piedmont chief professional officer, has experienced the difficulties associated with a lack of funding throughout her career.
“Being a nonprofit, we don’t really have much,” she said. “So we are very excited about where this grant money is going.”
Smith grew up in Chapel Hill and said his experiences with friends in need made the project especially important to him.
