Eastern’s chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority hosted a grilled cheese and tomato soup event on April 17.

The event took place at the Gamma Phi Beta house on College Avenue, and it included a free grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner, as well as various games and activities.

The suggested donation for the event was $5, and all proceeds went to the Spokane branch of Campfire USA. The philanthropy chair for the sorority, Reanne Charuhas, organized the event.

“This is something brand new for us,” she said. “The idea is to raise money and to bring some unity to the campus.”

Usually Gamma Phi Beta will hold a pancake feed as their main philanthropy event of the year, but this year they wanted to make a change.

“We’ve been doing the pancake feed for a while, so maybe something new would bring in more people and thus more donations,” said Gamma Phi Beta member Kristanie Maleng.

Maleng worked specifically with the planning of the event, making sure that everyone had enough food and that all the required rentals were taken care of for Friday afternoon.

Charuhas stated that it costs around $300 to send one girl to a Campfire USA summer camp. She did not have a specific number of girls she hoped to sponsor in mind. Her goal was simply to make as much as she could to benefit the organization.

“My expectation is that we get as many people in that house as possible and to sponsor as many girls as we can,” Charuhas said. “I just want to keep an open mind because I think whatever we can do will benefit Campfire USA.”

According to the Gamma Phi Beta website, the sorority’s main philanthropy efforts benefit Campfire USA and Girls on the Run. The latter organization helps young girls train for and participate in 5k races. Gamma Phi Beta’s website states that each girl is given a running buddy to train and compete with.

Although every member of the sorority was expected to be involved with the April 17 event, the girls also volunteer with individual projects. Maleng stated that the EWU chapter is required to complete four to five service hours every quarter.

Their activities range from volunteering at animal shelters, raking leaves for Cheney residents and working with the Spokane branch of Campfire USA. Maleng also said that some girls volunteer with the Domino Project, which is an autism center in collaboration with Eastern.

Maleng said that next year the sorority is hoping to increase the number of required hours each quarter as well as the amount of larger projects on campus.

“We’re trying to get a good set-up plan for next year’s philanthropy,” Maleng said. “We try to make sure that our members are really well-rounded and involved in the community as much as possible.”

Maleng agreed that the primary goal of her service work was to find a way to benefit the community as a whole.

“We’re just trying to outreach to the community,” she said.