Contact: Leah Barbour
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- By donating more than $1,000 toward the completion of a fourth Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity home, a new Mississippi State University service fraternity is fulfilling one of its missions.
Alpha Rho Chi at MSU primarily includes College of Art, Architecture and Design majors, though service-oriented students can join. From the fraternity's inception almost three years ago, members have focused on donating to Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity.
"We're a service-oriented organization, so we started pushing the Maroon Edition Habitat House -- we wanted to get more involved and increase community awareness," said senior Adam Rhoades of Diamondhead, chapter president.
The fraternity organized two major Habitat fundraisers: selling "Got Sleep?" wristbands and holding a "penny wars" competition where students attending classes in Giles Hall -- the location of most architecture design courses -- donated whatever pocket change they had.
"We wanted to take a dominant role in Maroon Edition house and help out the community in any way we can," added sophomore Daniel Torres of Enterprise, Ala., fundraising chair.
Freddie Rasberry, executive director for Habitat Starkville, said the donation will help pay to finish the fourth Maroon Edition project, which will also be the 50th local Habitat house.
"This money will go a long way toward finishing that house and preparing for building another one," Rasberry said. "Each house contains one family, and our goal is for this money and other donated money to help those children grow up in their own home, so they can go to college and buy their own home. And, so the cycle goes from generation to generation."
To learn more about Alpha Rho Chi at MSU, visit http://msuapx.com; to donate to Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity, www.starkvillehabitat.com