WSU’s Greek community began celebrating Greek Week on Sunday. The annual event will last all week.

Greek Week is a series of competitions and contests for fraternities and sororities to compete with and against one another. It’s also a fundraiser. This year, 38 WSU chapters are participating.

“This is really the one time of the year that everyone comes together,” said Marisa Mitchell, a junior communication major and Delta Gamma sorority member. “It’s a competition, but it’s also about celebrating being Greek. It’s a great place to make a lot of new friends.” This year, The charity portion of the event will be split into thirds. One-third will go to the Whitman County Community Action Center, one-third will go to the winning fraternity’s philanthropy, and one-third will go to the winning sorority’s philanthropy.

The CAC is a nonprofit organization that fights to reduce poverty and build strong independent families and a better community.

“With the current economy, a lot of families are in need,” Greek Week Co-Director Angela Harle said. “They are a lot more than just a food bank. It’s really nice because the money stays local.” Last year, Greek Week raised roughly $22,000. Greek Week Co-Director Chrissy Ayers said they hope to top that number this year.

“We’re hoping that new format brings in more donations,” she said. “Since the winning team gets two-thirds of the prize, we hope the incentive will drive people to donate more.” While Greek Week has been an annual fixture at WSU, the focus on philanthropy is more recent.

“It’s really been revamped and reorganized in the last couple years to focus on raising money and promoting the beneficiaries,” Harle said.

Students who are not in the Greek community are welcome to attend and watch any particular event. However, they are not allowed to participate unless a specific house brings them onto its team.

“We encourage all students to go and watch,” said Byron Adams, Greek Week public relations board member. “It’s a really good opportunity for people to see what we’re about.” Each event is judged by members of the local police department, ASWSU and non-Greeks.