By Ryan Sexton

A cacophony of clacking cards, convivial voices and crooning Rat pack singers filled the air on January 31. But it wasn’t in the casino. The Hempstead Park nursing home was treated to a fun-packed, casino-themed promenade a few weeks ago, courtesy of the philanthropic hands of the PIKE and Sigma Delta Tau Greek organizations.

For the residents, it was an energizing and exciting activity. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin singing over the PA system were tenuous, sweet reminders of a time gone by. Healthy, robust, kind college kids helped set up poker and blackjack tables, creating a stark contrast between the young and the old, the potent and the tired. Yet for just a day, or at least a few rounds of poker, it seemed that age didn’t matter to the residents of this lucky nursing home in Hempstead.

Few people understand better the importance of integrating youth with the elderly than Sheila Rienecker, the Director of Recreation at the nursing home. “On our end, it sort of just brings life back into our residents,” says Rienecker.

The dichotomy of young and old, according to Rienecker, is important for both the students and the residents. “As far as students are concerned, it’s important for them to speak and interact with them, just to hear what they’ve been through.”

The nursing home, located on Front Street, doesn’t have this happen every day. However, it’s not a boring, stagnant place by any means: events and outside entertainers are brought in often, hired by the nursing home to bring a little more color to their residents’ days. But the kind of gesture that PIKE and SDT brought to the home is an unusual occurrence. “A few years ago, a sorority came in to decorate an area in the home,” said Rienecker. “But this is the first time a frat or sorority sponsored an event independently without real assistance from our staff.” It was a bit of an anomaly for the residents, who were accustomed to a different sort of entertainment.

Fraternities and sororities are the impetus behind many school events and fundraisers, and they serve as much, much more than simple social networks. Yet all they can seem to garner is bad press, particularly for wild hazing antics or unsavory initiation ceremonies. Very little media attention is devoted to celebrating the more benevolent, positive side of fraternities and sororities. Much of the community seems ignorant though to what exactly that side is.

Ryan Cangialosi of the PIKE fraternity contends that frats have a multifunctional role, meant to satisfy both the needs of students and the community at large. “They’re not only for fun, but to develop the integrity of men,” says Cangialosi. “The community puts up with our parties, so we’re obligated to give back.”

In Cangialosi’s eyes, fraternities and sororities work in tandem to support the academic community and extend the scope of the University’s influence onto the outside community. According to Cangialosi, about 90 to 95 percent of all philanthropic activity originating on campus is derived from the efforts of Greek organizations. Even so, the public perception of these organizations is far from sterling. Arguably, fraternities and sororities get one of the worst raps on campus relative to other groups, especially in the context of their body of generous work and typically innocuous behavior.

“People only like to hear the juicy gossip,” Cangialosi muttered, advocating for his organization. The success of events like the one on January 31 may eventually help to eclipse this current conception of Greek life. Either way, PIKE and SDT intend to return to the same nursing home, though with a different motif, this coming fall. If they didn’t, they might not ever hear the end of it from the residents, who were enthralled by the casino bash and would love for the event to be more than a one-time affair.

Fraternities and sororities wouldn’t be what they are without their astute knowledge of party science or their remarkable ability to spontaneously manifest hundreds of people in their house gatherings. But that’s not the sole reason why they exist. They do plenty of other things for the community and the University.

So the next time you’re at a fraternity party, you may want to think once or twice before spilling your beer on their floor. Though they may not be the Ronald McDonald House, Greek organizations have an obligation to their schools and communities, and they adhere to that creed as much as possible.