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Home > Documents > Newspaper Articles > RPI 'brothers' plan good deeds for the holidays Published on December 1983.By Joe Picchi TROY - The 65-member national service fraternity at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has big plans for the Christmas holidays - a "Clothe a Child" program for Friday and a Capital District Educational Fair Dec. 29 at the Empire State Plaza. But the holiday projects are only two of many undertaken by the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Omega during the school year, according to David Ginsburg, an RPI junior and spokesman for the fraternity. Ginsburg said the fraternity will help with Friday's party at Hope 7, a community center on Pawling Avenue, where about 50 underprivileged youths from throughout the city will receive newly purchased clothing. On Dec. 29, the fraternity will be participants in an all-day educational fair in the South Gallery of the concourse at the Empire State Plaza, where youths from throughout the Capital District will be treated to hands-on computer demonstrations, and futuristic exhibits of robots and sound. The fair is for all youths from kindergarten through sixth grade, said Ginsburg, although many exhibits will be developed by slightly older youths with assistance from fraternity members. "Youth groups will be operating the exhibits with supervision from us," added Ginsburg. "The kids will learn a lot about technology, computers, robots, television and chemistry." Besides the exhibits, the fair will also include a stage show, dramas and puppeteers. In addition to RPI's service fraternity, other chapters of Alpha Phi Omega working on the fair will come from Cornell and Clarkson universities, and the State University at Oneonta. During the year, the RPI service fraternity also clears land and does construction at Camp Barker and Camp Rotary, two Boy Scout camps in the Capital District. Last Halloween weekend, the chapter "brothers" - as Ginsburg likes to describe them, although the fraternity is co-educational - also cleared an archery range for Camp Saratoga, another scouting area. Ginsburg said the fraternity plans a second "Scouting Camporee" next fall in which the entire Governor Clinton Council of Boy Scouts will participate. A similar camporee was held in 1980. |
