Cold temperatures could not keep the members of Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma inside Sunday.

The sorority and fraternity co-sponsored "Adopt-A-Block," a service project which lasted from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The students began the day by meeting at the Kappa Sigma House for breakfast.

Then, they worked to clean up the Marquette campus by picking up trash, said Tom Hanson, philanthropy chair of Kappa Sigma and senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

The students divided themselves into 10 teams and went around campus to clean up after the weekend, said Agnes Sokol, president of Alpha Chi Omega and junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

The event was a joint effort between Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma to do service, said Declan Glynn, president of Kappa Sigma and senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

The idea for "Adopt-A-Block" has been in the works for a year.

During the 2004-'05 Marquette Student Government elections, Hanson ran with Sean McGuire for MUSG president and executive vice president, and the two came up with the idea for Adopt-A-Block as part of their platform.

"Every week or so different organizations would have a block to clean up," Hanson said.

McGuire, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said it would have been an easy way for student organizations to do service work.

This year, Glynn suggested Kappa Sigma sponsor their own "Adopt-A-Block," Hanson said.

"It's hard to get a big group together to do service work in the winter," he said. "We decided just to do something on campus and figured cleaning up would be a good place to start."

Despite the cold, the members were ready to work Sunday.

"I think the cold builds character," Glynn said before the event. "Hopefully we don't freeze to death. Otherwise, we'll have a great time."

Glynn said the cold was an "incentive to work faster."

"The snow will cover up some of the garbage, but we just have to do what we can and make the best of it," Hanson said.

Sokol said each group picked up about two to three bags of garbage. Between 60 and 70 students came to the event.

Hanson said Sunday's Adopt-A-Block was the first time Kappa Sigma has been involved in an all-campus clean-up.

"We always want to maintain our status quo and go beyond it," he said.

Alpha Chi Omega is involved with Domestic Violence Awareness Week and tries to sponsor events with other Greek organizations, Sokol said.

"It's a stereotype that all we do is party, but service is a cornerstone for all Greek organizations," Hanson said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 15 2005.