A few times each semester, Laura Houston makes her way to Sedgwick Heights nursing home on Erie Boulevard to play Friday-afternoon bingo with senior citizens.

She has learned a lot about the true character of some elderly folk.

‘They try to gamble on the side. The same old men hit on you, and they try to get you to change the number that you just called so that they will win,’ said Houston, a junior graphic arts and political science major. ‘It’s funny when somebody’s grandpa is calling you sweet cheeks.’

Houston doesn’t go alone, though. She and three other students attend bingo through the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity.

‘It’s great knowing you made their day just for sitting there for two hours playing bingo,’ said Anna Floreen, a junior psychology and child and family studies major and vice president of rush and retention.

Since 1932, APO has been SU’s exclusive community service fraternity. APO is a traditional fraternity in some ways and an unconventional one in others. It has three cardinal foundations: leadership, friendship and service.

‘We have the same traditions of greek organizations, like induction, initiation and bigs and littles,’ Floreen said.

The APO brothers, though, aren’t allowed to have a traditional, official greek house.

‘It puts the focus more on doing good,’ Houston said.

The group meets instead in the Hall of Languages.

APO’s members are called brothers – but they can be either men or women. It is standard that a co-ed greek organization is termed a fraternity rather than a sorority.

APO differs from the average fraternity in a monetary sense as well. The organization’s semester dues are about $50, as opposed to most fraternities on campus, which cost several hundred dollars, said Chip Hooley, a senior television, radio and film and political science major and vice president of service.

While most fraternities do one philanthropy per semester, APO fulfills its purpose as a service fraternity by organizing almost 10 per week, Houston said.

‘Other fraternities are involved, but it’s not the main focus,’ said Stacey Kanin, a junior psychology major. ‘It’s really what we’re centered around.’

That focus eliminates an exclusivity factor that is present in most other fraternities and sororities on campus. While APO has a pledge period, it doesn’t aim to narrow its applicant pool.

‘It’s open to everyone,’ Hooley said. ‘We don’t ever say ‘You can’t do enough service’ or ‘You’re not like us’ to people who want to join.’

‘Even though it’s nice to meet new people,’ he added, ‘I’m really there for the service.’

This dedication to community service is the most important distinction between APO and other fraternities on campus, Hooley said. The typical, greek format of APO, however, can lead to some confusion.

‘Some people get the wrong impression,’ Hooley said. ‘Sometimes when I’m wearing my letters, people will say, ‘I didn’t know you were in a fraternity.’ And I want to tell them that I’m not … but I am … it’s just not a typical fraternity.’

APO brothers have orchestrated several large, on-campus events, including Relay for Life last spring. The group raised more than $50,000 and hopes to raise $75,000 this year, said Gina DeRosa, senior social work and policy studies major and president of APO.

APO brothers also took part in a cleanup of Onondaga Creek with several other community organizations.

‘We collected five Dumpsters worth of garbage,’ Houston said.

Part of the cleanup was a $100 prize for the most interesting find, which an APO brother won after finding a still-in-the-package, honey-baked ham.

‘We all went out to dinner afterward to celebrate,’ Houston said. ‘We found guns and knives, but the ham won the prize.’

Hooley is responsible for planning enough service projects for each APO brother to fulfill the required 28 hours of service per semester.

He draws on various databases and resources, such as the Schine community service office, to keep the service projects rolling.

‘There’s always stuff to do,’ he said. ‘You just have to know where to look.’

He never stops looking for new service projects to put on the APO calendar. A few weeks ago, Hooley was busy at work when a customer’s clothing inspired a service project.

‘He had on a volunteer T-shirt from an event, so I asked him about it,’ Hooley said. ‘We have something on the schedule for next week working with that organization.’

The number of brothers in Syracuse’s chapter has more than doubled in the past few years. Two years ago, the chapter had 30 brothers, and this year, it boasts more than 60 active brothers, Floreen said.

‘The pledge classes are definitely increasing in size every year,’ Kanin said.

APO brothers attribute the jump in membership to several things, including a more visual presence on campus. The involvement is the main hook in getting new brothers, DeRosa said.

‘There are a lot of people who were involved in service in high school and are looking for the same thing here,’ DeRosa said. ‘Some people don’t want to be greek, but still like the idea. They like the twist we put on it.’

Mel Armstrong, a junior marketing major, transferred from Holyoke Community College and decided to pledge this fall to meet other students.

‘It’s nice to meet completely different people from completely different backgrounds who are all there for the same reason,’ she said.

Other brothers voice a similar sentiment.

‘I wanted to find a group of people with similar interests, but not necessarily similar personalities,’ Houston said. ‘I knew that people who are willing to devote 30 hours of service per semester are the type of people I wanted to be around.’

Published on November 18, 2003 at 12:00 pm