PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MAUREEN JOY CHARTER SCHOOL

Since the beginning of the year, our Delta Tau Delta colony has been actively involved in the Adopt-a-School program. Early on this year, a few of us went to Maureen Joy Charter School as part of the “Into the City” Program, where Duke students visit the public schools in the Durham area and help in whatever way they need. On that trip, we helped paint, clean, and fix up some of the school, but we also found a large scale opportunity to help out. The school was a homely, colorful place, vibrant with children’s art work and alphabet lists, cartoon cutouts and pictures. Marlene, our contact at the school asked us nicely after we had finished painting one of the classroom walls whether our fraternity would be interested in helping out more with the kids at the school. We agreed right away.

Ever since, we have been sending our fraternity brothers to Maureen Joy Charter on a weekly basis. Over there, in addition to helping renovate the school, we have been hanging out with the students, assisting wherever we can in the classrooms, supervising recess time, and most importantly just being there for all the children, and becoming friends with them. The experience has been supremely rewarding for all of us. It is an incredible feeling to know you have made a real difference, and when we go to the school now, seeing the smiles on faces we once barely knew brings a very rare, special joy. Matthew Tait, one of the brothers, wrote this in an email to the entire fraternity after he had gone for one day:

“Hey guys, today I went to the school to check it out and help out. It was an enlightening experience. The school is very small, over crowded, and unfinished. Whether you believe in community service or not, this is a real opportunity to impact kids’ lives. They need help in a big way at the school. Many of these kids have no real male role models in their lives and therefore will look up to you more than you could ever know. This is a chance to change someone's life. We are all privileged kids: our parents either have the money to send us here, they love us enough to send us here, or both, but either way we're privileged. These kids are not and you can change their lives. Please don't let them down, please.”

Needless to say, we didn’t disappoint, as these types of responses came from everywhere. This year has been a defining one for us in Delta Tau Delta, and the Adopt-a-School program has been a huge part of molding this fraternity.

We have also sought to use the talents of the brothers to enrich the lives of the children. DTD Michael Ayers , directed the Musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” and performed a show for free for the kids’ of the school

We are lucky to have the chance to be a part of those kids’ lives, and we only look forward to more opportunities where we can help. Our work at Maureen Joy has become a cornerstone of who we are as a fraternity, embracing diversity and community.

Contact us:

President Reed Shaffner
rhs9@duke.edu, 321-794-8072

Webmaster Dargaye Churnet
dhc3@duke.edu, 423-505-9852