Beta brothers lend hands at local shelter

Seven members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity traveled to a local homeless shelter Saturday morning to help fix up the shelter, cleaning and painting several rooms in the building before returning to campus. The group split into three work teams, spending more than three hours cleaning everything from the bathrooms to the sitting room of St. Columba's, a homeless shelter at 33rd and Chestnut streets. St. Columba's, which currently provides shelter for 33 homeless men, has counted on the help of Beta brothers in the past. The brothers volunteered last year to help clean the house because the shelter lacked the money. The house was well-kept, but residents said they appreciated students' efforts to clean the house. Willam Smosny, who has lived in the house for over two years, said he was touched "deeply in [his] heart" by the students' work. While the shelter needed work, it was fairly well-maintained by the residents. "It seems as though they have a degree of self-sufficiency . . .I've seen worse," College senior Jim Pletcher said. The brothers said they gained satisfaction from hands-on work at St. Columba's. "We get more personal satisfaction seeing where our labor went as opposed to collecting change on Locust Walk [during charity drives]," said College junior David Peikin, who chairs Beta's philanthropy committee. "We would do a lot more in the long run by helping them in the home than giving money." According to staff member Bob Finegan, the average stay of the men at the home varies according to the individual. He said most men come to St. Columba's merely looking for shelter. While they are there, however, the staff attempts to connect them with programs such as Alcohol Anonymous and Medicaid. Due to scheduling conflicts among fraternity members, only a small group was able to return to St. Columba's.