Frat, Big Breakfast raise dough for elementary school

The fraternity scene and community service converged on Penn's campus Friday night with Phi Kappa Psi's second annual benefit concert, featuring the band Big Breakfast.

Proceeds from the $3 in advance and $4 at the door tickets will benefit the Charles R. Drew Elementary School, located on 37th and Warren streets.

"It seems silly that this type of University with its prestige and resources could coexist so closely geographically to a school with so few resources and so many economic problems," said College junior and Phi Psi brother Tony Peebles.

The Phi Psi brothers initiated their relationship with Drew Elementary last year when they embarked on establishing a long-term community service project.

"We are a service-based frat, and we really wanted to pick up on that and make it a bigger part of the brotherhood," Phi Psi Social Chairman and College sophomore Pat Brugh stated. "We decided it would be good to commit all our social service to one project."

The frat has plans to designate the $1,014 raised from the event specifically to improving the art department at Drew Elementary, or to the establishment of a scholarship for a promising young artist or musician at the school.

The brothers' manifesto was written on a sheet and displayed in the house throughout the evening. Many signed it, signifying their support of the brothers' efforts.

"The event was a big success," Peebles said. "Friday and Saturday nights on Penn's frat row tend to be largely hedonistic, and it was nice to have a frat party be so beneficial to the community."

Nearly 200 people attended the event, which included refreshments from Bitar's, Red Bull and Au Bon Pain. "It was a great way to get people together for a good cause," College sophomore Poornima Vanguri said. "The band was enjoyable, and having refreshments drew a lot of people."

Peebles, along with Community Service Co-Chairman Aaron Searson, largely organized the event. Big Breakfast, of which Peebles himself is a member, volunteered to perform, bringing some star power to the evening.

Last year, Phi Psi sponsored a Battle of the Bands benefit concert. "This year's event was much more successful than last year's," Brugh stated. "The amount of work we put into it and the response were infinitely better... I think people got their money's worth."

Still, some felt the event could have been better publicized.

"Perhaps even more people would have attended if they had known the money would benefit Drew Elementary's arts program," Wharton freshman John Pfabe said.

Still, the brothers were pleased with the outcome. "It was an overall success," Brugh said. "We were just excited that an event that circled around community service and not beer could be so successful on a rainy Friday night."

Phi Psi is hoping to contribute extensively to Drew Elementary, and the brothers are trying to plan a campus-wide dodge ball game.

"We are hoping that the [InterFraternity Council] will pick up on it," Brugh said, "and that we can make it a whole inter-Greek thing."

This on the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity's charity event to raise money for a local elementary school misidentifies the fraternity as Phi Sigma Psi.

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