Chapter Philanthropy and Service
Zeta Tau Alpha's national philanthropy is Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. As a chapter, we take pride in supporting this philanthropy and aim to have one major philanthropy event each semester!
In the Fall we celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, during October, by hosting a "Think Pink Week" and our annual Breast Friends 5K Color Run. During our Think Pink Week we host a smaller philanthropy event each day of the week and it is ended on Saturday by our color run! In the Spring semester we host another Think Pink Week that leads up to our Best Man On Campus philanthropy event! We also support our philanthropy throughout the rest of the semester by hosting informational Think Pink tables in the University Center or Interdisciplinary Resource Center on campus where we educate students, accept donations, and pass out pink ribbons.
Our annual Breast Friends 5K Color Run is held at Northend Park each October and is open to any student, family member, or community member who buys a ticket. The ticket price pays for a 5K T-shirt, color packets, and the donation toward our philanthropy! Participants are encouraged to take the trail at their own pace and dogs are always welcome!
Best Greek On Campus (BGOC), our Spring event, is a mix of a greek talent show and a pageant. Greek life members of the Ferris State campus make a donation to participate in a three round philanthropy event where the winner will be crowned the "Best Greek On Campus". The rounds consist of a talent portion, question and answer, and the final round where they wear a bra they helped decorate and speak about what breast cancer means to them. Three of our judges will decide on the "BGOC", but there is also a Peoples' Choice winner which is determined by the amount of donations the men get as they walk around with a jar at the end of the event!
Think Pink Week is different each semester but has consisted of some of the following events is the past: penny wars between the greek organizations or academic colleges, sucker pulls, "Pie a Zeta", "Coffee for a Cure", restaurant fundraisers, "Cookies for a Cure", and many others. Our sisters have even cohosted a "Pink Out" Ferris hockey game where we held a Think Pink Table and invited a breast cancer survivor to speak at the puck drop!
Outside our supporting our National Philanthropy, our sisters also participate in service events and donate to causes on and off campus. ZTA always participates in The Big Event to help clean up the Big Rapids community and regularly participates in can drives for United Way, donates to Wise, Kid's Food Basket, and Toys for Tots, and supports other organizational fundraisers on campus!