The University of Arizona Panhellenic Council will be hosting Greek or Treat on Oct. 30 from 4-7 p.m. on the UA Mall. The event is a safe environment for children in Tucson to go trick or treating.
“It is just a fun way for students to support the families of faculty and staff and the local community in a cool way,” said CJ Graziano, the coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Events.
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Graziano is the person that plans and organizes the Greek or Treat event along with other Greek Life events. She said in an email that Greek or Treat is a beloved annual event that has been happening for the past 10 years.
Each sorority and fraternity on campus will have a booth at the event, Graziano said. There will be games for kids to participate in and candy for them to receive. Members of the sororities and fraternities are invited and encouraged to dress up.
“We have done it for years as a way to help provide safe spaces for children in the community to celebrate Halloween and an opportunity for our students to volunteer,” Graziano said.
Junior engineering student Alex Contreras is vice president of the social sorority Phi Sigma Rho and is participating again this year. Contreras is organizing the table for her sorority at the event. They will be hosting a game of spider races. In this game, kids will be racing plastic spiders to a designated finish line using plastic straws. After playing the game the kids will get candy. Last year, Phi Sigma Rho did glow stick tosses.
The members of the fraternities and sororities that participated got to dress up for Halloween and have fun with the kids. Last year was the first year the Phi Sigma Rho sorority participated in the activity. Kids from all over Tucson came to the event, including Contreras’ little brother.
“We want to participate because it’s fun to see the kids dress up and play games,” Contreras said. ”It’s a really amazing event for the sorority to get us known and to put our name out there and join with other Greek life because we are such a new sorority. We were established in 2016, so we’re still trying to get our feet in the water and get everybody to know about us.”
Contreras said she is excited for Greek or Treat this year and is anticipating lots of interesting and cute costumes.
“I think it’s super important [to the community] because it shows that the people in the community can come to the U of A and know that they will be safe and know that the U of A is trying to give back to the community,” Contreras said.
Contreras said she believes that there is more to Greek life than the big parties and fabled binge drinking. She feels there is a lot of positivity that comes out of Greek life that people are less informed about, particularly the philanthropic work that fraternities and sororities participate in. She hopes that events like Greek or Treat will open the public’s eyes to the benefits of having Greek life.
President of the Panhellenic Executive Council Dana Henderson oversees all the events and philanthropic work that Greek life participates in.
“The most anticipated part of this event would be how excited the kids get when they come to each table,” Henderson said. “They dress up, and sometimes the kids will find a student with their same costume and take pictures. Greek or Treat is more than just candy; the games get the kids involved and make the event a lot more fun and engaging.”
Henderson said the most important part of the event is how students are able to interact with their community and give back to the city of Tucson.
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