The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page X12

12X Fraternity members at the niversity of Vermont will pend some time out in the old once again to collect donations for the Fisher House Foundation, an organization that helps military families ind homes. he Sleepout for the Sold iers event takes place Feb. 13-14 The Burlington Free Press caught up with the Alpha Lambda chapter of the appa Sigma Fraternity to earn more. Burlington Free Press (BFP): Can you describe the history of the Alpha Lambda chapter and its philanthropic fforts? Is this part of what draws people in, and what onnects the fraternity with the greater community? Christian Surprise, chairman of community service and philanthropy, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, A lpha Lambda (CS): The A lpha Lambda chapter of he Kappa Sigma Fraternity has had a lot of growth and success since it has had a reincarnation in the early 2 000s. We embody our core alues of fellowship, leaders hip, scholarship and service.

By working on these values, naturally able to bring in more men to our chapter to keep the tradition going. Our focus on service really creates a great opportunity to play a small role in Burlington and show our support of the community members in this town. Our argest event is our Sleep Out for Soldiers event. For this stay outside for over 24 ours in support of the military and raise money on ain Street to be donated to the Fisher House Foundation. We directly work with ur community to achieve this goal and it ends up being a special time of year not just for us, but also for the entire ommunity.

BFP: How did Sleep Out for the Soldiers begin? I understand a national when did it start on a ocal level and why? CS: Our past brothers decided that they wanted to commit more to the idea of service and decided to und ertake this event. With a ew adjustments to make it ork here, they were able to raise thousands of dollars. Now in its seventh year we are more committed then ever, and have broken $10,000 the past two years. Our goal now is to do better this year, with a hope of $20,000 dollars. This of course is done to show that our Burlington community ants to show gratitude to our troops and we feel that a reat way to do that is hrough The Fisher House Foundation.

It be ossible without the community coming together to aid this effort. A little bit goes a remendously long way and are extremely grateful to have the support of the community that we have had ince starting Sleep Out For The Soldiers. BFP: What has happened i the past four years (in terms of growth, successes, Why the Fisher House Foundation? CS: The past four years ave been great. We have rown each year and finally broke the $10,000 mark two years ago. This was huge for s.

It shows that even though this is a lot to ask from our ommunity we have had only heir support. Seeing growth each year shows that we can a lways do more and is inspiration to show that hard work can pay off. For us the Fisher ouse is an easy choice. We fully consider them and be- ieve that their mission to give military members and heir families basic necessities like housing is the least we could do to support our troops when they come ome. We know that it means a lot to directly give back to ur community and we are starting a project to make that happen, but we believe that this event really shows hat Burlington can be part something bigger then its elf as we support our entire military.

BFP: What exactly happens during the fundraiser? CS: The fundraiser is as basic as it gets which allows us to focus on the task at hand. We symbolize the problem we are trying to help fix by being outside for more then 24 hours at our house on ain Street. No matter the weather we stay there and a sk people walking or driv- i ng by if they want to make a donation. We usually have ames going on during the day and allow vendors to stay if they want to help in the vent. This year start on Feb.

13 and end the next ay. To reach our goal we start fundraising before and i people visit our website they can make a donation at www.sleepoutfor thesoldiers.com. This is how get most of our donations, a nd when we get a lot of peo- le behind us small donations add up really fast. pretty special to see it all happen and culminate on the inal day. BFP: Can you tell me more a bout the prizes and the that will be set up? CS: On Main Street we have sections where we are permitted to collect donations.

Here we really connect with the community. We keep in mind that Main Street is obviously busy enough on its own and our interactions are short and if a ar want to stop then we just hope the next one ill. It means a lot to see all he support year after year from the town. or more information visit this website: www.sleepoutfor hesoldiers.com. Frigid days no match for fraternity fundraisesr COURTESY University of Vermont chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity participated in Sleep Out for Soldiers in 2010.

It will again raise money to house military families with the same event Feb. 13-14. FREE PRESS FILE University of Alpha Lambda chapter of Kappa Sigma raternity lined Main Street in Burlington for 24 hours in 2012 to collect donations for the Kappa Sigma Military Heroes fund. FREE PRESS FILE Nick Teaford, a freshman pledge for University of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, collects donations on Main Street in urlington in 2012 for the Kappa Sigma Military Heroes fund, which directly supports the Fisher House Foundation..