Pi Kappa Phi chapters across the country raise money for their philanthropy – The Ability Experience.
But TCU’s Eta Chi chapter has raised more than $1 million for the charity since its founding in 1998.
TCU’s Pi Kappa Phi 2016 Philanthropy Chairman, Calvin Layman, learned of the accomplishment during Supreme Chapter, where chapters of Pi Kapp from across the country meet together and receive awards.
But the men in the chapter are not the only ones inspired by this achievement.
“To see that we were the ones that did that was pretty cool,” said Layman.
The chapter hosts a variety of fundraising events, particularly during The Ability Experience Week, ending with their “Pi Kapp Push” event.
“It’s really just our thing and our way to give back,” said Pi Kapp President Morris Herman.
He said it’s not just thanks to the donors that the chapter reached the $1 million benchmark.
“It’s really a testament to the guys that started our fraternity,” he said. “Everybody who’s come before us really led us to the million dollars and hopefully the next million.”
Layman said the accomplishment gave more than just pride to the chapter.
“Everyone was just really excited, I think, and almost motivating,” Layman said. “We’ve hit a million – what more can we do?”
There was even a video produced by one of the founders of the Ability Experience congratulating the Eta Chi chapter on their success.
“It’s motivating for a lot of the other chapters,” said Layman. “As long as we’ve been around, we’ve pretty much been top fundraising. We’ve been hitting our goals every year and it kind of pisses off a lot of the other chapters because we win every year, which I think is really awesome.”
Pi Kappa Phi is unique from other fraternities because it is the only fraternity that has their own philanthropy. The Ability Experience is specifically owned and operated by Pi Kappa Phi.
“That’s the whole reason I came to TCU, is for their Pi Kapp chapter basically.” said first-year student Layton Rodgers. “Their fundraising – their push week raises a ton of money for the TCU chapter and it’s like widely known throughout Pi Kappa Phi as a whole that the Eta Chi chapter is one of the top chapters.”
Rogers’ father founded of the Journey for Hope, a 72-day cross-country biking event incorporated into The Ability Experience.
TCU’s Pi Kapp chapter has six members, including Rogers, going on different routes this summer. There are three different routes to Washington, D.C. – the Transamerica route, the north and south routes.
Bikers start from either Seattle, Los Angeles or San Francisco and arrive at Washington, D.C., on the same day.