On March 1, 2022, Wofford’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, organized an event to raise money for UNICEF and to foster awareness for the current situation in Ukraine with the Russian invasion and the subsequent humanitarian crises that arose.

“We made pamphlets that included a brief history of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine, a summary of the events that are currently happening, a list of places to donate time, money, and resources and some examples of sources to get more information for,” Julia Richardson ’24 said.

Richardson was one of the primary event organizers and spearheaded the effort on behalf of her service fraternity. Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States and centers its activity on service work and community engagement.

“The fundraiser was our rush week service event, which is meant to be an example for people interested in joining Alpha Phi Omega of what our service events look like,” Richardson said. “We had originally planned to raise money for Project Semicolon and spread awareness about mental health issues.”

However, due to the escalation of events in Eastern Europe and the full-blown invasion of Ukraine that occurred a few days before the fundraising event, the decision was made to switch focus and raise money for another purpose. 

As Vice President of Service, Richardson decided that it was more important to raise money for the people currently suffering in Ukraine.

“Julia came to me with the idea of changing the event to a fundraiser and I loved it,” Anna Norris ’23 said. “I felt like a cloud of helplessness was settling in over campus. People all over were watching what was happening from afar and wanted to help but had no idea how to help.”

The event was successful by multiple measures for Alpha Phi Omega. The organization raised over $100 in donations for UNICEF from Wofford students, faculty and staff. Many people also stopped by to pick up a pamphlet, learn more about what is happening, and collect resources for further information and action.

“Even though we are a relatively small organization, we wanted to do everything in our power to help,” Richardson said. “We provided materials for students and faculty to make ‘kindness notes,’ where people could write kind messages on note cards that APO will put around campus.”

The fundraiser was especially important given the context and demographics of Wofford as well as Spartanburg County. Wofford has students of Ukrainian descent and, according to Census data from 2019, Spartanburg County is home to 1,341 people who were born in Ukraine, which constitutes the largest foreign-born Ukrainian community in South Carolina. 

“I felt that through this event, we as students could finally get to help with the situation,” Norris said. “I also thought it would be a nice show of support for those on campus that are directly affected by everything that is going on.”