This past semester, the chapter served over 700 hours with this life-changing organization through tutoring young children after school, running food & supplies drives, handing out food and clothing, and giving campus tours to at-risk youth to inspire them to attend college, to name a few things.
We sat down with two members of Phi Gamma Delta to talk about their experiences with community service and what it means to them. The members interviewed were former Chapter President and Electrical Engineering major Christian Ogburn Spring '24 and former Community Service Chair and Homeland Security major Noah Hemsey Spring '23.
What are the origins of your partnership where you currently do your service work? What led to FIJI picking this organization to support?
Christian Ogburn: Our partnership with the Daytona Dream Center (DDC) dates back to the Fall of 2019 when I was a new member of Phi Gamma Delta. I had previously served with another Dream Center group, the Pittsburgh Dream Center, with my youth group in high school. When I committed to Embry-Riddle and Phi Gamma Delta, I noticed that my brothers were open and interested in community service. All we were lacking was consistent quality opportunities for us to serve. I directed all my early efforts in our chapter toward community service, and after some thorough searching, I found the Daytona Dream Center. I knew this opportunity would appeal to my brothers as the DDC events are not your standard beach cleanups but genuinely transformative experiences focused on supporting young children and homeless intervention and prevention.
How did you go about installing a mindset of service over self?
Christian Ogburn: My mindset of service was locked in when I served with the Pittsburgh Dream Center. One time when I was serving with them, we were walking all throughout downtown Pittsburgh to distribute warm meals and free clothes. What stuck with me was witnessing so many people crowded outside of homeless shelters in 16°F weather because the shelters wouldn't open unless it was 15°F. I don't think those are conditions anyone should ever have to endure, and the case isn't much better for those in the Volusia-Flagler area. When I found the DDC, I knew I had to share this experience of helping others and to the satisfaction of giving back in the most tangible way possible. The moment you step out into the community, you no longer have a choice; you know you are now committed to something more than yourself.
What has been your most defining moment with this organization?
Christian Ogburn: One of my defining moments and favorite memories was helping pack grocery bags before Thanksgiving of Fall 2019. Two reasons made this particular: Firstly, service of this capacity was relatively new to our chapter. I tried to bring out as many brothers as I could each week to help serve. I acquired about 3-5 brothers on average when I asked for volunteers, but when I asked brothers to help pack Thanksgiving meals for families in need, they showed up in masses. Walking into the warehouse to pack these bags and seeing all my brothers is a moment I will never forget. Secondly, we packed upwards of 600 bags daily to provide these families with a full Thanksgiving meal. To see that we have young men who will be there for their community before themselves is immaculate.
Why is service important to you?
Christian Ogburn: No matter what my beliefs and values are, the fact is this: there are those less fortunate than myself that could benefit from a helping hand right now. Of all my ups and downs in college thus far, someone out there has it a lot worse than I do, and I can't let that slide.
Noah Hemsey: I never liked service in the way most people do. I prefer committing a significant amount of service to my Brothers through the effort I put into our Fraternity. Personally, even I have struggled to see eye to eye with the impact of some service events. But, the genuinely impactful events, like the two days of young children from a low socioeconomic background seeing the Embry-Riddle campus and the basketball game, ground me again. I also think service is vital for being our best selves and maximizing our potential to be well-rounded gentlemen striving for excellence.
Noah, overseeing community service is an enormous task. What motivated you to give back?
Noah Hemsey: The Fraternity has done so much for me that I felt obligated to repay it with my efforts. In Spring 2022, I took a leadership opportunity as the Chairman of Community Service as soon as I was done with my pledging semester. When an organization cares for its people, and the people feel cared for, they will feel inclined to give back to the organization. That was the case with me.
What made you take this position? What has been the most rewarding aspect of it? The most challenging?
Noah Hemsey: I was assigned this position by Christian Ogburn (I remember I had asked for risk management because all I knew at the time was that I was in Homeland Security, so we learn about risk management constantly). The most rewarding part of the position has been being allowed to significantly improve one area of my chapter, allowing me to move on and focus on another area. It’s significant after knowing that this area has struggled to gain consistent support from the entire brotherhood for some time. The most challenging aspect of the position was learning salesmanship; getting signups does not happen by yelling at brothers to do hours. Getting signups requires inspiring the brothers through humor or showing them the most genuine reasons we do service and relating it to our values.
What advice do you have for people interested in a high number of service hours?
Christian Ogburn: Do not focus on the number of service hours; focus on the quality of the service itself. When you find something you love, you will want to do more. If it feels like a chore, you're doing it wrong!
What plans do you have for this spring? Do you have a set goal for hours?
Noah Hemsey: We aim to maintain 600 hours in honor of our Fraternity’s Founding Fathers, the Immortal Six. This translates into 50 hours per week or 200 hours per month. We do not seek to move past 600 hours per semester, so we may focus our efforts on other areas for balance and moderation.
This spring, we seek to expand our service in ways other than hours, such as by launching community service merchandise, doing brotherhood events with community service, doing recruitment events with community service, and doing social events with community service with other organizations who either struggle to find good service or who have similar focus areas. We also seek to align our community service program with our philanthropy, the United Service Organization (USO), by doing service events for veterans.
We look forward to the continued impact the gentlemen of Phi Gamma Delta have on the Daytona Beach area and beyond. As the Friendly Neighborhood, Mister Fred Rogers, said, "Life is for Service" The Phi Gamma Delta brothers live this truth.