The Penn State InterFraternity Council will join Highlands Neighborhood residents in downtown State College on Sunday, Sept. 28, to kick off its first Greek Sweep, a community initiative to clean up litter from streets and sidewalks.
“Over the past year, we’ve really kicked up our relationship with the State College borough. We want to show that even though we might only be here for four years, our legacy will remain,” said Garuth Acharya, IFC community relations officer. “Our fraternities have been here for over a century and we want to take ownership of our community.”
Participants will meet at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the Sigma Pi fraternity house, 303 Fraternity Row, where they can pick up a neon yellow “Greek Sweep” safety vest and get assigned a street to help clean up. One person from each group of two to three people will be assigned a recycling bag and one person will be assigned a bag for garbage. After the “sweep,” recycling will be taken to the borough building.
Acharya said there are 30 to 40 people signed up for the first event, but that all Highlands residents and Penn State fraternity members can join in.
“We want folks from the community cleaning up hand-in-hand with us,” said Acharya, a State College native. “My vision is to see 100 people cleaning up the Highlands by the end of the semester.”
The event is the first in a series of Greek Sweeps planned during home football weekends throughout the fall semester. Once the fall semester pilot program is complete, Acharya said the IFC would like to expand Greek Sweep into the spring semester.
For more information, contact Acharya at outreach@pennstateifc.org.