Alpha Phi Omega

Website

National: http://www.apo.org

Chapter: http://www.iotaphi.org

Chapter Wiki

http://www.iotaphi.org/wiki

Chapter Established

1951

Colors

Royal Blue and Glory Gold

Motto

Be a Leader, Be a Friend, Be of Service.

Contact

President: <president AT iotaphi DOT org>

Service Vice Presidents: <service AT iotaphi DOT org>

Press Secretaries: <presecs AT iotaphi DOT org>

Alpha Phi Omega is a national community service based co-ed fraternity. It is the biggest fraternity in the country with over 700 chapters, has already expanded into the Philippines and is now seeking to do so in Canada and Australia. UC Davis is home to the Iota Phi chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, which has been around since May 27th, 1951. When it first became a fraternity it was all-men, but went co-ed in 1976. Some famous members include: Emil Mrak (of Mrak Hall) of the third pledge class, as well as Claude Hutchison (an old UC Davis dean), and Knowles Ryerson.

Alpha Phi Omega (APO) is all-inclusive and invites anyone interested in leadership, friendship, and service to join them. There are two Rush periods a year, one around mid-October and the second around mid-February. They have a membership of about 100 active members and 70-100 pledges per term. To keep professional, APO in California is a dry fraternity that does not haze. The service requirement is a mere 18 hours within 10 weeks, though members are encouraged to do as much as they are able.

Members of Alpha Phi Omega cleaning up a camp site at Sunset State Beach by Santa Cruz during Spring Term 2009's pledge retreat.

Current members are expected to participate in service events in each of the four fields of service we emphasize: service to the community, service to the campus, service to the country, and service to the chapter. Services can vary from working at Picnic Day, sorting food or clothing at the local food bank, or tutoring or playing with kids at a local shelter. On average, the fraternity performs over 10,000 service hours during the academic year, with some individual members volunteering hundreds of hours alone.

With such a large membership, APO not only participates in community events, but has also created its own within Davis. Some examples include Dance 4 Kids, Santa 4 Kids and its Spring equivalent, Spring Fling. Typically, members serve at annual community events (Picnic Day, Bike Auction), help schools with charity events, work with animal-preservation groups (SPCA, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue), help with environmental projects (campus cleanups, Tree Davis), blood drives, among many other projects.

While UC Davis' Iota Phi Chapter serves year round, organizations are especially likely to get large numbers of volunteers (easily 10-20 people) between October and May. Any organization or individual in need of volunteers for their service project can contact the chapter's Service Vice Presidents at service@iotaphi.org. Since Alpha Phi Omega prides itself on the quality of service it brings to the community, you can expect volunteers to avoid using cell phones during service, be timely, be attentive, and act appropriately around particular audiences. If for any reason you feel volunteers are not up to par, you may lodge a complaint with the Service Vice Presidents to have offenders punished.