by Bro. S. Atkinson
11/25/02

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessings even life forever more."

Bloomington And Normal Social And Greek Organizations (B.A.N.S.A.G.O.) is a collaborative effort brought forth by the strivings of several organizations. B.A.N.S.A.G.O. consists of the local graduate chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, and Omega Psi Phi. Other organizations include the local NAACP, Elijah S. Betts Lodge #23, F&AM, PHA, Anwar Chapter #149, OES, PHA, and others. Members of these organizations came together to assemble and donate a considerably large number of food baskets to the less fortunate this past weekend.

On Saturday morning, we met at Wal-Mart Super store in Normal to purchase the food that would be distributed later that day. The volunteers that were present were divided into teams consisting of two members. Each team was responsible for collecting the items on there list. Ironically enough, my team was responsible for collecting all of the canned goods. Erica Bumpers (Delta Sigma Theta) and myself loaded and unloaded sixty cans of string beans, sixty large cans of candied yams, I am getting myself hungry again so I won't finish our list. Needless to say, we accomplished the daunting task of filling a Wal-Mart shopping cart to the capacity with canned goods. Other items such as milk, dinner rolls, kool-aid, and Mac and cheese were also purchased.

After our shopping extravaganza we all pilled into our respective vehicles, groceries in hand and headed to Mt. Pisgah church for the assembling and distribution of the packages. The volunteers had already begun unloading the groceries from the vehicles into the church when I noticed that the parking lot was filled to capacity. There were even more eager volunteers inside of the church. Everyone did there part in assisting with the packaging and dissemination of the parcels. In total there were over thirty full packaged dinners delivered to various residents in the Bloomington/Normal area. Members from the previously mentioned organizations helped to make this service project a resounding success.

After having participated in this community service project, I am overwhelmed with a renewed sense of family and fraternity. I am thoroughly pleased to see that we as black professionals, black Greeks and concerned citizens can come together in an effort to live up to the ideals that were set forth long ago by our progenitors. We must be forever cognizant in the fact that, life is a series of attempts to accomplish specific projects. If these projects are honorable, then one may well devote the best that is in him of mind, body, and spirit to their final accomplishment.