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MURRAY – Murray State University’s Sigma Chi chapter is teaming with the Murray-Calloway County United Way and Paschall Truck Lines to send donations to Eastern Kentucky flood victims this week.

The involved organizations are asking the community to help them stuff a semi-trailer full of donations from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Roy Stewart Stadium parking lot. Local Sigma Chi Chapter President Conner Holmes, a junior from Marshall County, said many of the chapter’s members are either local or have lived in Kentucky their whole lives, so they take it to heart when a tragedy strikes anywhere in the state.

“I have three active brothers that are on a volunteer fire department, and with the quad state tornadoes that we had in December, with the families, homes, businesses (that were affected), it was very personal,” Holmes said. “We’ve got a lot of guys from Bowling Green (where the tornado path struck in addition to Mayfield and Dawson Springs), so a lot of the guys see that as being kind of our duty to help our state, to help our loved ones and our friends.

“So, when this (flooding) came about (during the summer break), it’s kind of been difficult with everybody being spread out working, doing internships or whatever, but we’re coming back together, and with school starting this week, a lot of us really just wanted to help out any way that we could. As a Sigma Chi, our philanthropic service means the most to us, and any way that we can help anybody in need, it’s betterment to our character, but that’s the role we want to serve.”

Murray-Calloway County United Way President Paul McCreary said he a Sigma Chi alum, and he loves seeing young people stepping up to help during a crisis.

“The guys over at the Sigma Chi chapter at Murray State knew my connection with the United Way, and a couple of weeks ago, they had an idea that they wanted to help the folks over in Eastern Kentucky,” McCreary said. “They could put the program together, but they really couldn’t fund the transportation, which is a pretty stout bill. They wanted to know if the United Way would fund it, and I took it to my board and they said, ‘Absolutely.’”

McCreary said that in addition to United Way’s contribution, PTL agreed to provide a driver and tractor-trailer to take the donations to Perry County.

“We’ve been in contact with the emergency management department over in Perry County, and they’re arranging for a location where they can take a tractor-trailer over there and then provide unloading services. From our perspective, it’s really a Sigma Chi project with United Way funding.”

Holmes said McCreary had been extremely involved in the chapter for years and he was grateful that he was eager to get the United Way involved with this effort.

“It’s just a really great opportunity for us to organize something and show what a few minds can really achieve and how much of an impact we can make to help our state,” Holmes said. “It was really a no-brainer; you see something like that happen, and everybody wants to jump up and say, ‘What can I do to help?’ With the university, as well as different Greek organizations, we have a really good community that we’re able to network with and make this possible. We were just the ones that wanted to jump on the forefront and organize it all, and with the help of United Way, we’ve been able to do that.”

Holmes said Sigma Chi’s members want to see positive change in the world, and since this project seemed like something they were capable of doing with help from the right people, they wanted to get it off the ground as quickly as possible and have a positive impact on the affected communities.

“It’s service that we want to do and provide, and at the end of the day, it just makes the guys feel a lot better about being in an organization when they see the capacity that we have and what we’re capable of achieving when we come together. When you have those kinds of goals, philanthropic service is the perfect way to achieve those, and it just felt like the right thing to do.”

With classes at Murray State starting on Wednesday, Holmes said he hoped to ramp up publicity this week to maximize donations from the campus community. He said McCreary and one of the other Sigma Chi brothers plan on promoting the donation drive on the radio, and they hope to network with other Greek and campus organizations at Murray State and Sigma Chi alumni across the state and country to get the word out.

“We have alumni spread out across the nation and still-tight knit in Western Kentucky, or at least this region among a few states, and we’ve spread the word talking to them and friends and family,” Holmes said. “We’ve got a lot of guys contacting different agencies, and I have been working with other organizations on campus to get them on board, and it’s really a way to get everybody involved.”

The products listed below are among the most-needed items the group of volunteers are hoping to take to flood victims. Donations of bottled water are not needed, the promotional flyer said.

• Soap, body wash, bath wipes and facial tissues

• Disposable razors and shaving cream

• Feminine hygiene products, baby wipes

• First aid kits and items included in first aid kits

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