The Florida Chapter participated in a 5K walk/run to benefit the Gainesville Fisher House Foundation. The event was put on with the help of the Florida Ag Econ Club. The Fisher House program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America’s military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform as well as the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by both the Departments of Defense and the Veterans Administration...

Members of the Florida Chapter's Fall pledge class took time off from studying during the week to visit the Ronald McDonald House in Gainesville. While at the house the pledges baked and passed out approximately 100 cookies for the residents. The Ronald McDonald House provides temporary housing, basic amenities and support to families with critically ill children seeking treatment at area medical facilities. The program helps to stabilize situations for families and allow them to concentrate all of their time and energy on the treatment and recovery of their children...

The Florida Chapter held a fundraiser at Ci Ci's Pizza from 5-9 p.m. where we received a certain percentage of the profits from the night. Members came out to enjoy the all you can eat buffet while catching up on what has been going on with each other.  Of course, this is best done while filling up your fuel tank to study! Members enjoyed pizza of all kinds while embracing in the company of other members. The fundraiser gave us the opportunity to help offset the costs of events planned by our chapter during the year.

The big/little reveal is a fun event held every semester where our pledge class gets to find out who their "big" is in an innovative way. The pledges were paired up after a round of speed dating at a previous meeting. The "bigs" and "littles" give the pledge master, Saajan Panikar, their list of their top 3 choices. After the "littles" were paired up with a "big" - an active member who would act as their "go-to" to help them with anything they need even if it is just an ear to listen, the event was set for the reveal. For the event this year a cut-out of an A and a Z was attached to string that was woven around the entire room. On the A was the name of the pledge and on the Z was the name a the member. After all the matches had been made we all enjoyed potluck and got to know each other and our "bigs/littles".

When a cute puppy is in need of rescuing who do you send? Well our service chair Jaclyn Irwin decided to send AZ to the rescue-Phoenix Animal Rescue that is. Members of the Florida Chapter helped the animal rescue put on a large adoption event at a local Petsmart. The organization finds homes for abandoned, stray, and neglected animals around Alachua County. Members helped walk dogs, pass out treats, and play with the pets...

Members of the Florida Chapter took time out of studying to help raise money for another fraternity's philanthropy. The brothers of Phi Sigma Pi National Honorary Fraternity held a kickball tournament for their national philanthropy: Teach for America. 8 teams of 7 were formed and competed in a single elimination tournament. The brackets were set and attendees gathered for the start of the tournament...

The week before Halloween, on October 23rd,  about ten brothers went together to Battleview Orchards for apple and pumpkin picking. Apples later became pies for the brotherhood, as well as a great many more delicious dishes. In the midst of midterm season, it was a great break from all of the studying, and a fun way to get into the Halloween mood.

Cook Chapter took a field trip to the Rutgers Gardens to clean the bamboo forest. Every semester, we head over and shovel and rake mulch into a better path, weed, cut down dead and dangerous branches and help the Gardens in any way they need. This time our clean up also included planting new trees along the street to reduce erosion. Everyone had a great time and we all managed to whistle while we worked (and sing Disney songs as well), making the manual labor much more enjoyable.

On September 28th, as part of rush week, Cook AZ brought the new potential pledges to Applebees to socialize and get to know each other and the brothers better. Mostly everyone ordered half price appetizers or deserts, but everyone had fun running around trying to meet all of the new Sigma class. A lot of the brothers used this opportunity to see if they clicked with any of the pledges, to decide if they wanted a Little this semester or not. It was a great turn out and everyone went home happy.

On Sunday October 23, the brothers of the Cook Chapter assisted the Cook Community Alumni Association at the Family Fall Festival at the Rutgers Gardens. The brothers and pledges assisted with set-up at the beginning and throughout the day ran a table teaching about plant propagation though both seeds and bulbs with everyone being able to take a bag of daffodil bulbs home. Brothers and pledges were there throughout the day to the end assisting with break down. The brothers were able to meet with both Cook College Alumni and some of those were brothers of Alpha Zeta.