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News

Sigma Pi project benefits UH Child Care Center

100 people complete $2,500 renovation of 30-year-old establishment

By Christina Richardson
News Reporter

The old saying holds that "you reap what you sow."

If that's true, UH's Child Care Center reaped some of the benefits of 30 years of work this weekend with the Sigma Pi fraternity's ACE Project.

Sigma Pi designed ACE -- the Altruistic Campus Experience -- to develop pride and respect for the University in its members by performing philanthropic projects that benefit UH.

The first ACE Project event was held Saturday at the Child Care Center. The center, which opened in 1975, had a list of things that needed fixing around its building on Wheeler Avenue, including a dilapidated garage where bicycles and play items were stored, and play areas and sidewalks that flooded on rainy days.

When the sidewalks got wet, the staff would place boards over puddles -- which they called London Bridge -- to keep the children dry.

Sigma Pi spent about $2,500 on supplies to repair and upgrade the center. Members brought in sand to level the playgrounds and mulch for flowerbeds, trimmed the trees, pressure-washed sidewalks and the parking lot and repaired the storage shed.

The group also got donations of books, toys and money from several UH sororities, and some Sigma Pi members made cash donations on behalf of local businesses.

"I am very excited that the students want to come and beautify the center," said Praful Menon, the Child Care Center's operations manager, who has worked at the center for nearly 30 years.

At least 100 people worked on the project, ACE Project Chairman Anton Houston said.

"We had a really good time and have received positive responses for all of our hard work," Houston said.

The Sigma Pi symbol will be placed on the center's storage shed as a reminder of the fraternity's work.

Houston said Sigma Pi hasn't yet chosen who will benefit from next year's ACE Project.
 

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