Here you can learn about Alpha Epsilon Pi's history.
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We have been working hard to plan a service trip to New Orleans to work with Habitat for Humanity.
We went during the summer break from June 15 to June 21. We have brothers ranging from freshman to juniors coming on the service trip.
We will be building houses with Habitat for Humanity of New Orleans during the day and sleeping over in the Marquette House, a hostel
in the city. In adddition, we got to meet the family that we were building the house for. They told us how they were stuck for hours
on the roof of their previous house during Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, they were saved and now they will have a new home that we helped
build.
This year, the trip will be Interfaith as Hillel and Asbury Protestant Ministry are both sponsoring it. We hope that the students on
this trip will have a memorable experience.
Further, we plan to take 15 students and 2 advisors on the trip and currently we are fundraising and applying for CAP money so that
we can cover our expenses. Next year, we hope to include more Delta Rho brothers on the trip than ever before!
Philabundance
Philabundance was founded in 1984 with a mission to help fight hunger in the Delaware Valley while reducing food waste. On January 1st
2005, Philabundance teamed up with the Philadelphia Food Bank to become one of the largest charitable food providers in the Delaware
Valley. According to their website http://www.philabundance.org , in 2005, Philabundance provided approximately 22 million pounds of
food to the needy. In December 2006, AEPi donated 851 pounds of food to Philabundance.
Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation is a Non-Profit organization that is attempting to find matches for Luekemia patients. On Tuesday
April 23, 2006 AEPi in association with Hillel and the Gift of Life Foundation registered over 100 people in the national Bone Marrow
Registry. You can contact Gift of Life at 1-800-9MARROW or visit them at http://www.giftoflife.org.
Jewish Relief Agency
Our chapter has a tradition of contributing to our community. One of our favorite ways to give back is through the JRA, (Jewish Relief
Agency) which helps feed over 1500 needy Jewish families in the Philadelphia area. Our members, along with many other Jewish individuals
in the area, help to package food at a distribution center, and then go door-to-door delivering it.
Many members of our chapter have parents, grandparents or great-grandparents who were immigrants to America. Being able to help families
who are in a situation similar to what our's were once in is a great privilege. During one of our recent events with JRA, our chapter's
members delivered food to over 100 families.
Delta Rho also participates in the Alpha Epsilon Pi International goal to raise money for Ethiopian Jewish Community Centers in Israel.
Two such Israeli centers which help integrate Ethiopian immigrants into Israeli society will benefit from the philanthropic efforts of
Alpha Epsilon Pi over the next two years. The centers in Be'er Sheva and Lod provide computer and vocational training, academic
tutoring, and other programming to help the Ethiopian community fully integrate into Israeli life and culture. Previous international
philanthropic efforts have included raising over $100,000 for Magen David Adom (of which Delta Rho brothers, alumni and parents raised
a combined $3,000) and $135,000 for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Alpha Epsilon Pi's first encounter with the Ethiopian Jewish Community Centers came during the fraternity's first birthright Israel
trip in January 2004 when participants visited the Winnipeg Center in Be'er Sheva. That encounter proved to be one of the most
significant and universally enjoyed aspects of the trip. Since then members of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel have been
extremely well received by Alpha Epsilon Pi chapters and at the fraternity's regional leadership conclaves as they travel through
North America as part of the Israel at Heart program.
The new International philanthropy was selected by delegates to Alpha Epsilon Pi's 91st Anniversary Convention in Phoenix, Arizona.
"The selection of the Ethiopian Community Centers as Alpha Epsilon Pi's International Philanthropy will hopefully serve as the mechanism
to educate our chapters, North America's Jewish community, and the campus population at large about these often overlooked members of
the Jewish people," explained Lorber Director of Jewish Programming Jonah Zinn.
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