photo by: Contributed

Members of the KU chapter of Phi Iota Alpha selling various agua frescas during one of their weekly fundraisers during Hispanic Heritage Month. The Latino fraternity raised $12,460 for the Kansas City-based Hispanic Development Fund, which provides scholarships for Latine students pursuing higher education.

The KU chapter of a national Latino fraternity won an award for its fundraising efforts that go to supporting scholarships for the Latino community — despite receiving less institutional support in its efforts this year.

The Beta Xi Chapter of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was honored on Nov. 6 with an award from the Hispanic Development Fund — a nonprofit based in Kansas City that helps provide scholarships for Latino students — for raising the most money for the “Cambio para Cambio” campaign this year. The fraternity raised $12,460 through weekly fundraisers, community collaborations and alumni donations over the course of Hispanic Heritage Month. It was the first time a KU-related organization received that honor.

Miguel Tapia Becerra, the vice president of finance for the fraternity, told the Journal-World his chapter chose to support the HDF for its philanthropy efforts. The KU chapter of Phi Iota Alpha, which was founded in 2014, has in the past brought in around $6,000 total for the fund, but Tapia Becerra said he was motivated to make a bigger impact.

“I took it upon myself to really figure out how KU can step up and collaborate with more organizations on campus and do something bigger for the community,” Tapia Becerra said.

One change for this year’s fundraising was that fewer institutions were willing to match the funds that Phiota was able to raise for donations. During the Cambio para Cambio campaign, Tapia Becerra said the HDF would always match the amount of money that each group raised with additional funds from its donors. Previously, KU would do the same, making the money go a farther. For example, if the fraternity raised $1,000 dollars, KU would provide an additional $1,000 to go to the fund. Then, HDF donors would double that amount, meaning the fraternity would give $4,000 to the scholarship.

However, Tapia Becerra said many universities “cut ties” with that matching program, and it fueled his desire to show the organization “can raise as much money as possible.” This year, they raised $6,230 by themselves — about the normal amount of what their contributions had been with matching — to provide over $12,000 to scholarship programs.

“We have the power, we have the numbers, let’s get something done this year,” Tapia Becerra said was the fraternity’s mindset.

photo by: Contributed

Members of KU’s Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity invited other members of the Multicultural Greek Council to join them at an award ceremony for the Hispanic Development Fund. Miguel Tapia Becerra (third from right) said partnering with the other organizations helped them raise over $12,000 for the fund, with those funds going to scholarships for Hispanic students in higher education.

Though the Phiota fraternity — which has about 15 active members, Tapia Becerra said — was not all on its own. Other members of the Multicultural Greek Council, a group of six culturally based fraternities and sororities at KU, chipped in on giving donations. Additionally, Tapia Becerra said those Greek institutions and the Latin American Student Union — which he is also a member of — combined forces to host the first-ever Hispanic Heritage Festival at KU in October. That event was the largest the organization had ever hosted, and Tapia Becerra credits those partnerships for allowing them to raise all those funds.

“I think that’s what made the campaign much more successful,” Tapia Becerra said.

Tapia Becerra said as a Latino and first-generation college student, he knows how important the scholarships that the HDF provides for students in the Kansas City area. Tapia Becerra said coming into a predominantly white institution, he wanted to make sure he didn’t put aside his Latino identity when he was attending college. When he spoke with members of the fraternity as a freshman and learned about their initiatives, he felt he found a way he could feel more at home while attending KU.

“I instantly just felt a bond and connection that I knew I wanted to be a part of,” Tapia Becerra said.

The fraternity worked hard through the past six weeks in its fundraising efforts, and tapped into their cultural heritage as well. Along with the Hispanic Heritage Festival, Phiota held weekly fundraisers that sold Latin American cuisine. Tapia Becerra said they sold fresh fruit cups sprinkled with tajin or chamoy seasonings, churros, paletas — which they got from the Mexican-owned business Palacana — agua frescas like horchata, breakfast burritos, conchas and Mexican hot chocolate just outside of Wescoe Hall.

Tapia Becerra said he thinks the fraternity is most known for selling the breakfast burritos and horchata, but some of the items they sell can help bridge the gap for people who might not be familiar with other Latin American cuisine. Students would come up and ask about the differences or what each thing was, and it would create a back-and-forth where people learned more about not just the food they were selling, but about the fraternity and its mission, Tapia Becerra said.

Tapia Becerra noted that Phiota’s reach has extended further than just the Multicultural Greek Council. While members from those six fraternities and sororities “always showed up,” to help, he said that many other Greek members were stopping by their booth in support.

Additionally, the hard work of the members — Tapia Becerra said hosting the weekly fundraising while juggling demands for college was a toll on everyone in the fraternity — earned kudos from the HDF staff, who said they hadn’t seen the effort or commitment from a college organization like theirs before. Tapia Becerra said he is pleased to get the recognition from the campus and the wider community about the great work from the Phiota members.

“People are slowly seeing who we are,” Tapia Becerra said. “In the last year, I think (we have) stepped up to be more in the public eye.”

photo by: Contributed

Members of the Beta Xi Chapter of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. at the University of Kansas posing with an award for raising the most funds by any college organization during the Hispanic Development Fund’s “Cambio para Cambio” campaign. Miguel Tapia Becerra (second from right) said the group was motivated to raise more money after the university no longer providing matching donations.