ALPHA PHI OMEGA NATIONAL SERVICE FRATERNITY

For more than 75 years, college students from around the country have volunteered their services for their local communities and the nation as a whole through Alpha Phi Omega National Co-ed Service Fraternity. On 350 campuses nationwide, 16,000 student members give unselfishly of their time and energy on a daily basis. Alpha Phi Omega members cumulatively donate over 300,000 hours of service every semester.

On the local level, members are encouraged to get involved with four fields of Service: the community and youth, the nation, the campus and to each other. Each Chapter determines how best to meet the needs of its own community. For example, Chapters assist at shelters and nursing homes; provide leadership and mentoring for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire USA, 4H Clubs, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; clean parks and highways; create walking and biking trails; sponsor blood drives; and provide a wide variety of other service projects. Activities range from large annual events to small, weekly acts of kindness. Involvement with other local organizations' service projects is typical.

Alpha Phi Omega also encourages national service programs. Each fall, Chapters simultaneously participate in a national program of emphasis as part of National Service Week. The students, at their biennial conventions, determine these programs. In addition, Spring Service Day is strongly supported. Chapters participate in Youth Service America, Special Olympics, America' s Promise, March of Dimes, and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few.

Alpha Phi Omega is active internationally as well. A recent nation-wide project resulted in more than 113,000 books collected, labeled, boxed, and shipped to the Philippines for distribution to schools and young people there. Membership in Alpha Phi Omega is inclusive. With the knowledge anyone can be of service, Chapters are comprised of freshmen working next to seniors. Physically challenged students find ways to be of service through Alpha Phi Omega. Race and religion are merely individual characteristics that provide for a well-rounded Chapter.

A typical member will hold several Chapter leadership positions during his or her college career- from Project Chair to Executive Board officer. Further, Alpha Phi Omega has an extensive leadership development program to help members realize and improve their abilities to organize and direct individual and group activities. Students take what they learn in Alpha Phi Omega into their post-college lives, becoming service-oriented leaders in their communities and professions. Alpha Phi Omega has produced more than 300,000 such alumni.

Alpha Phi Omega excels in each of the Points of Light criteria: community needs and solutions, connection building, ongoing involvement, impact and innovation. In fact, Alpha Phi Omega has been promoting and practicing these concepts for more than three quarters of a century.