Over the weekend, College Park was hit by a winter storm that left the city’s roads, sidewalks and driveways covered with about 19 inches of snow.
In addition to the plows and workers who cleared the snow, one fraternity made a point to help with the cleanup effort.
More than a dozen Phi Psi Friends, a volunteer group made up of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members, helped remove snow from 16 College Park households as well as the Green Ridge House elderly care facility in Greenbelt, earning the attention of several city officials.
“I got several requests for assistance with shoveling and referred people to Phi Psi for assistance,” College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn said. “They were a huge help to our community. They helped shovel [for] people all over the city.”
Junior government and politics major Hunter Garrison started Phi Psi Friends in fall 2013, when he was in the process of pledging the fraternity. The program grew as the brothers spread the word to city officials and College Park residents as they received positive responses from then-Mayor Andy Fellows and then-Councilman Wojahn.
This week, Garrison helped shovel snow that had trapped elderly people in their homes. Tim Deedy, Phi Psi vice president and sophomore government and politics major, said about 15 fraternity members helped out collectively during the three days. The fraternity hoped to do more work during the end of this week as well.
“The shoveling has been really the only thing we’ve done this semester for Phi Psi Friends, but last semester, we both helped at multiple households doing yard work,” said Deedy.
Last fall, Phi Psi served more than 30 households, accumulating 160 community service hours through various activities.
The fraternity has a link on their website for residents to request any help they need, including yard work such as snow removal and rides to and from nursing care facilities, said James Mulholland, Phi Psi president and a junior government and politics and economics major.
Phi Psi received an increasing amount of requests last semester, said junior mechanical engineering major Michael Palumbo, former vice president of the fraternity. Requests typically come from those with disabilities, people living on their own and the elderly community.
City Council meetings, which Mulholland frequently attends to hang up fliers and speak, allow Phi Psi members to connect with College Park residents. The fraternity has a list of all of the people it has helped and plans to contact them to see if they need more assistance, according to Mulholland. They are also open to requests from new people, and Wojahn has sent Mulholland the names and addresses of people needing help.
Garrison said this work was an important way of linking their fraternity to the city.
“One of the most important steps in bridging the gap between Greek life at Maryland and College Park is to get involved,” Garrison said.
