From April 1 to April 6, senior Misa Farslow’s SLU house project “Champions for Change” raised $215.78 for women’s shelters in Afghanistan.
Farslow is a member of the Women’s House (WoHo), a small living unit that works to raise awareness about women’s issues. She said that she, in collaboration with members of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, collected change for the organization Calling All Crows. She said 100 percent of the money made was going directly to the women in need in Afghanistan.
“These shelters provide a safe place for women to learn how to support themselves and their families after they have left their husbands or if their husbands have died,” Farslow said. “It gives them an opportunity they would not have had otherwise.”
Sophomore and Delt fraternity member Ryan Klein said the planning of the project started back in February.
Members of Delt who were especially involved in the project were Klein and sophomore Matt Wasserman. Both had different reasons for wanting to get involved personally, and wanted to get their whole fraternity involved, as well.
“The band State Radio, who I have been listening to for years, works with the Calling All Crows organization,” Wasserman said. “So I’ve known about what they do for years. Back home in Connecticut, my friend Oliver and I tried collecting change, but it never really amounted to anything significant. I thought that the Ohio Wesleyan campus would be a much better place to make a real impact.”
“I wanted to get Delt involved tabling with WoHo during the week, help make the poster to advertise the event, and most importantly, get other fraternities involved by giving them milk jugs to collect change within their house throughout the week,” Klein said. “This project means a lot to myself and to Delt because it betters the lives of impoverished women in Afghanistan, and in doing so, those in Greek life are working with those in SLUs, which does not happen enough.”
Farslow was glad the fraternity men wanted to be involved with her project.
“Ryan Klein and Matt Wasserman have been amazing,” Farslow said. “They contacted me about doing this project with Delt. It is nice to see the fraternities and SLUs working together.”
Though it does not happen often, this collaboration between Greek life and SLUs was incredibly successful in this project, according to those who helped.
“I enjoyed working with WoHo,” Klein said. Wasserman added, “When it comes to philanthropic endeavors, the people who need our help don’t ask ‘who is giving this money?’ so we shouldn’t discriminate either. Working together also pulls from different groups on campus, which will make charitable efforts more successful.”
Klein said he has talked to WoHo, and they want to do the project again next year. Wasserman said he hopes future members of Greek life and SLUs will want to work together more often.
“For the first time doing this project, I think this went well, and we will continue to improve and expand next year,” he said.