Delta Tau Delta (DTD), one of the new fraternities on campus, has recently been doing a lot of work to help their philanthropy, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF.)
Fraternities and sororities around the country pride themselves on being dedicated to their philanthropies and DTD, even though they are new to the University’s Greek community, is no exception to this. Over the past week, the fraternity has held two events to benefit JDRF, with more to come.
November is National Diabetes Month. DTD’s first event was “Delta Tau-Gate,” a tailgate at the home football game on Nov. 1.
“I chose Nov. 1 because it was Type 1 Diabetes Day,” said Anthony Serrantonio, a senior communication TV/radio major and the Philanthropy Chair for DTD. “A lot of work went into planning this event in a short amount of time. I had to get local business to sponsor the event by donating gift cards for us to raffle off the day of. We were able to get about 10 businesses to sponsor us. We also had a local seafood restaurant donate soup for us to sell.”
Serrantonio explained that they had also planned to hold cornhole and kanjam tournaments but inclement weather forced the guys to move the event inside the MAC. Despite the rain, the event still raised a decent amount of money. “We worked hard and were still able to raise $430 for JDRF so in the end I was still happy with the event,” said Serrantonio.
The rain did not stop people from enjoying the event.
“It was so nice to see an organization coming together for their cause regardless of weather conditions,” said Victoria Wright, sophomore psychology major. “The amount of support they got from other organizations on campus shows how accepting the campus community is and I think that is awesome.”
DTD’s second event, held on Nov. 5 at The Lobster House restaurant in Freehold, was a “dine to donate.” The Lobster House agreed to donate 50 percent of their profits for the entire day to the fraternity, which was then donated to JDRF. Serrantonio described the event as a “huge success,” as it raised over id=”mce_marker”,600.
“I really enjoyed the event and the fact that we got to support a great cause while enjoying a meal with other Greek life members,” said Corinne McDonald, senior social work major.
DTD’s efforts to support JDRF aren’t slowing down anytime soon. Serrantonio explained that the fraternity is planning to table outside the student center on Nov. 14, World Diabetes Day, where they will be selling bracelets and accepting donations. They will also be holding their main philanthropy event, “Delta Queen,” in the spring semester.
Stuart Rosenberg, DTD’s advisor, feels that the fraternity’s work for JDRF has been and will continue to be a success.
“Delta Tau Delta has raised roughly $2,000 for JDRF and the fraternity is working on additional events to support its philanthropic efforts,” said Rosenberg.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is the leader in global organizations funding type 1 diabetes research. According to JDRF.org, about 30,000 people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year in the U.S. alone. The organization’s mission is to find a cure.
“Since November is National Diabetes Month, I’m proud that we were able to have two successful events that can hopefully contribute to the cause of finding a cure,” said Austin Marcellino, a sophomore business major and member of DTD. “Being a new Greek organization on campus, it was nice to see support from others in the Greek community to help us achieve our goals.”
“Kids with Type 1 Diabetes have the burden of constantly monitoring their diet and blood sugar throughout their childhood in order to prevent themselves from getting extremely sick,” explained Alex Noboa, junior business marketing major and member of DTD. “We hold this organization very close to us because no child deserves to carry that burden and we want to help find a cure for them.”
Noboa said their JDRF donation page, as well as our upcoming philanthropy events, can be found on the Monmouth Delts Facebook page (facebook.com/monmouthdelts).
PHOTOS COURTESY of Anthony Serrantonio
