By Andrew Panagotopulos ’01
Seven brothers drove to Columbus early one Saturday morning to help repair houses for the less fortunate in the Christmas in April program. Christmas in April is a national program that helps people in several different cities across the United States. Driving to the house, I didn’t know what to expect, I Wondered what kind of work we were going to have to do or what kind of people we were going to work with, When we first arrived, we immediately started working., molting excess debris OUT of the yard. Throughout the day, we worked hard cleaning up the yard, scraping paint off the house and painting the house. While We first began working, everyone was silent and just tried working as well as they could together. But after a while conversation picked up, and everyone realized just how special the Christmas in April program was. We had all come from different backgrounds and probably would have never had a chance to work together and talk. There were parents working with their kids, people right out of college trying to find more meaning in their lives, a grandfather and seven Betas. Yet we were all ‘willing to work on a house of someone whom we had never met. As the day went on I felt as if I had been working with everyone for my entire life. We were all laughing, having a good time and helping each other out for an even greater cause then we through. the gratitude of the of the owner of the house was what made all the hard work worth while and made every one work harder. To see how many the widowed women was at every little improvement of her house is an expression I will remember the rest of my life. Christmas in april brought me closer not only to the betas on the trip but also to the other volunteers whose time was more variable than mine—and of course, to the house, who may have given more back the volunteers than we gave to her. This experience is an example of the true beta sprit in its purest sense.
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