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PHILANTHROPY

At Pi Beta Phi, we believe in the power of reading. We believe reading has always been — and always will be — a powerful step towards a life of enduring impact. We believe that when one out four children cannot read, that is one too many. We believe in inspiring readers, sparking imaginations, and igniting the desire to learn. We believe that readers become leaders, and we believe reading is the foundation of all that we can achieve in life. 

 

With that, our philanthropic efforts strive to improve children's literacy nationally, through fundraising donations and locally, through one-on-one volunteering.

For more than a century, we’ve committed ourselves to creating a more literate and productive society. We’ve changed with the times, but never shifted our vision. So at Pi Beta Phi, we honor the past while we build for the future…

One child…one moment at a time… one life changed forever.

The profits from all of our fundraising events go to the Pi Beta Phi foundation, which distributes funds to two foundations: Read > Lead > Achieve and the Emma Harper Turner Fund. 

To Learn More ... 

For more detail about where our fundraising goes, click the various links below. 

Arrowjam

Our winter quarter philanthropy, Arrowjam, is the largest student organized event on campus. Each year, we bring the greek community together to compete in a dance competition to support our philanthropy, Read>Lead>Achieve. This long-awaited event concludes a week of coin wars, t-shirt sales, and other small local fundraisers that all help to make Arrowjam one of the most profitable and successful Greek fundraiser's on campus. 

Every Greek affiliated fraternity and sorority on campus has the opportunity to participate in the competition. In preparation for the big event, Pi Phi sisters volunteer as coaches and host practices all quarter for individual competing teams. Each year, two amazing and talented sisters take on the task of choreographing and teaching Pi Beta Phi's own dance, which is performed at the beginning of the event to kick-off the competition!  

This year Alpha Delta Pi took first place for the competition amongst sororities, and Sigma Nu claimed first place among the fraternities!

With the incredible work of our Vice President of Philanthropy, Gina Maddalena , the support of all of our CA Theta members, and the efforts of the entire Greek community, our chapter raised over $18,000 for our philanthropy Read>Lead>Achieve this past 2019 Arrowjam.  

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Pi Phi Parlor

 

Pi Phi Parlor is our new spring philanthropy. For this event, Pi Beta Phi invites the entire Davis community to come to the Pi Phi house to enjoy icecream sundaes, rootbeer floats and more for one sweet and sticky afternoon. For an additional dollar, ticket buyers can purchase a whipped cream filled pie tin and pie any Pi Phi (or fellow attendee) in the face! 

 

By the end of this year's event, bellies were full, Pi Phis were sticky with whipped cream and more than $2000 had been raised for Read > Lead > Achieve.

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Pi Phi Pizookies

Every fall quarter, we put on Pi Phi Pizookies to support our philanthropy and feed stressed students yummy, warm cookies! 

 

For those of you who are not familiar with the beauty of what is called a "pizookie" - it is a warm cookie that is slightly under-baked with ice cream on top! Friends and family get to eat endless pizookies for just five dollars. All of our members come together to bake and prepare the pizookies for our guests, and always have a blast doing so! Last October, we ended up making over 1,000 pizookes and raising $3,613 to donate to our philanthropy, Read>Lead>Achieve.

 

Below you can watch footage from our philanthropy to see just how fun and successful the event truly was!

Pi Phi Pizookies

Pi Phi Pizookies

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Local Reading Initiative— Reading Room 

The California Theta chapter of Pi Beta Phi is proud to lead in our Panhellenic and Davis community in many ways. Reading Room, our local children's reading initiative, cultivates confidence and leadership development in both the children we tutor and in our members who dedicate several days out of each week throughout the entire school year to volunteer. Reading Room is a volunteer opportunity within our chapter in which our sisters can go to Robert E. Willett Elementary every Tuesday and Thursday to read to a group of second graders. The experience grants our chapter the opportunity to witness the direct impact that our mission for literacy has on the community around us. Some weeks upwards of ten members will be tutoring the children of Willett Elementary on a single day.

Several of our members have built such valuable mentorships with individual students that they attend Reading Room week after week to read to the same child. Many of the members who volunteer at Reading Room leave inspired by the impact they have made on the children at Willett Elementary. Often, members are driven to share and apply lessons learned from Pi Phi to organizations and communities outside the Greek community.

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