About the Epsilon Chi chapter

History

Phi Gamma Delta is the oldest Greek life chapter at University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire. The colonization date for this chapter was April 26nd, 1972. Our chapter resided at 1404 State Street for close to 40 years before starting an initiative to get an official chapter house. There have been many important members of Phi Gamma Delta- Epsilon Chi, including a Turkish prince. Since the chapter started there has always been a strong support network due to the bond of “brotherhood” that the members share.

Philanthropy

American Red Cross

Phi Gamma Delta began a partnership with The Red Cross in 2004, since then several chapters have developed a relationship with local Red Cross chapters, including ours. The Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that works to provide disaster relief and emergency assistance in the United States. Our chapter annual holds a Dunk-A-Thon event in December to raise money for our local Red Cross.

Feed My People Food Bank

Our chapter is also involved in volunteer work with Feed My People Food Bank, which is a food bank in west central Wisconsin that distributes over 7.8 million pounds of food to more than 125 hunger-relief agencies. Close to 70,000 people rely on food supplied by this organization and it has been an honor for us to be able to help with their work.

Polar Plunge

Polar Plunge is an event held during the winter where participants jump into a body of water despite the low/freezing temperatures. The participants collect donations from friends and family for their plunge. In Wisconsin the proceeds from this event go to the Special Olympics, our chapter participates in the local Eau Claire Polar Plunge event each year. Special Olympics is the worlds largest sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities, it offers them opportunities for training and competitions.

Scholarship

Our chapter takes scholarship very seriously, we require members to reach a certain number of study hours each week depending on their current and past scholarship. During finals week we build a fort in the library for people to study in and help each other, we named it Fort McCarty. We compile a list of everyone’s class schedules each semester so that people are able to see who they can ask for help when they are having a difficult time in a certain class. Overall, all the brothers try to help out one another to the best of their ability. During midterms week, Fiji members complete grade checks that professors have to sign, they sometimes leave comments too. Nationwide, members of Phi Gamma Delta are encouraged to live by three priorities in a specific order: 1. Scholarship, 2. Fraternity, 3. Self. Scholarship is first because members attend their university’s with the foremost goal of receiving a good education and the fraternity feels it is important to promote academic achievement and success amongst its members.