Everyone loves puppies, right? Well, on Oct. 9, the brothers of Delta Sigma Phi and the sisters of Delta Delta Delta at the University of Maryland turned that love of puppies into one of the coolest philanthropies we’ve ever heard of: their first annual Delta Dogs.
Members of the university community were invited to come out and hang with dogs from Prince George’s County Animal Shelter; additionally, the pre-event advertising made it clear that people could also bring their own dogs to romp and play with the shelter pups who were on-hand. The event was set up in the middle of campus on the mall, right in front of the library, to attract as many people as possible. There was a fenced off area to that included tents where the puppies could get some shade and drink water, a large area where dogs could play, and a raffle table.
We reached out to Zachary Pelczar, philanthropy chair for Delta Sigma Phi, about this awesome event idea. When asked how he came up with the idea, Zach said, “I had heard of other Delta Sig chapters doing an event like this called Delta Sig Dogs. Our chapter didn’t really have a big philanthropy event in the fall so I thought it would be an awesome idea to bring to here. We wanted to pair up with a sorority to make it a bigger event and bring more people together to raise awareness for shelter animals who need a home. We teamed up with Tri Delta and named it Delta Dogs.”
The event benefitted the Prince George’s County Animal Shelter in two ways. Zach told us, “At the event they received a lot of interest from people for volunteering and the adoption process, which is really rewarding to see.” Additionally, although the organizations were not allowed by the university to collect cash onsite, they were able to donate $500 to the shelter through event sponsorships they have collected.
Since each person had to fill out an insurance waiver to enter the doggie play area, the chapters were able to keep track of the attendees. Just less than 1,000 people came to the two-hour event. The organizations were happy with the turnout: “We wanted to make it an event for the whole campus, not just Greek life, to be able to attend and we had a great turnout! The shelter was very very happy with the event and how it went!”
Check out this awesome video recapping the event:
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Jenna Crowley
Jenna used to be known as 2NOTBrokeGirls, but then one of the girls actually went broke, so she's struck out on her own. Jenna spends her free time saving the world, one sorority girl at a time (usually while wearing yoga pants), questioning why she decided to get a doctorate, and documenting her love of all things cheese related. You can ask her anything you want about football, using your boobs to get what you want, and pizza at @JennaLCrowley on Twitter or via email at [email protected].
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