Monday kicked off NIU’s annual Greek Week, which will take place through to Wednesday, Feb. 24.

During Greek Week, greek organizations come together and sponsor activities which benefit the community.

“It’s a time when the greek system can work together as a whole to help others not as fortunate as ourselves,” said Colleen Dardis, chairman of Greek Week.

“It’s a chance for the entire greek system to come together and help others in the community,” said Gail Nuval, co_chairman with Dardis.

The theme of the week for this year is “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” based on the book by Robert Fulgulhm.

Dardis said the Panhellenic Council and the Interfraternity Council chose this theme because they wanted to remind people of the obvious—to help others.

“We came up with this idea because it’s the overall attitude we wanted to give throughout the week,” she said.

The charity week began Monday with a blood drive for the Huskie 4000, the Heartland Center’s attempt to reach 4,000 pints of blood from NIU. Donors will be able to give blood today as well.

Penny voting for Greek King and Queen will take place today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in DuSable Hall.

According to Dardis, each house nominates someone who they feel would represent the greeks well.

“The nominee would be an all_around good representative,” she said. “It has to be someone who has served their house and others well.”

Also taking place today is a bake sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in DuSable Hall. The proceeds from this event will be donated to the Friendship Group for the Blind, an organization which helps find materials for lower to middle class vision_impaired citizens.

A Tootsie Roll Drive will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Members from each house will be be collecting donations from stopped cars and handing out Tootsie Rolls to those who gave.

Money collected from this event will be donated to the DeKalb Homeless Shelter.

Also on Saturday, participating houses will send one volunteer to the Barb City Manor. The members will assist the residents, play Bingo and pass out refreshments.

On Sunday members from different houses will take part in Greek Sing which will occur at 2 p.m. in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.

Members from the Opportunity House, a working and living environment for adults with mental and physical disabilities, are invited to sit in and enjoy Greek Sing.

Monday, Feb. 22 marks the beginning of AIDS Awareness Week.

To acknowledge the week, members involved in Greek Week will be selling squares which will be made into a quilt. People can purchase a square and have their names sewn on it at tables from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday in the Holmes Student Center. The finished quilt will be displayed in Chicago at the AIDS Convention.

From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23, a “Bowl for Kids’ Sake” will take place in the Huskie Den of the Holmes Student Center.

Each participating house will have a five_member bowling team. Every team member is to find sponsors to pledge a certain amount of money for each pin knocked down. The money collected from this event will be sent to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization of DeKalb, an organization whose volunteers spend time with children from single_parent homes.

At 7:30 p.m. in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center there will be a Black Issues Forum.

The forum, entitled “Black Greeks, White Greeks: Is There A Difference?” is a panel discussion which will cover topics such as breaking down stereotypes and differences among the Interfraternity Council, National Pan_Hellenic Council (Black Greek Council) and Panhellenic Council, historically and structurally.

To bring the week to an end, Grand Chapter will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24 in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium.

This year’s Grand Chapter will host “AIDS Awareness” speakers T.J. Sullivan and Joel Goldman.

The theme of Sullivan and Goldman’s presentation is “Fraternity Brothers Get AIDS Too.” They will be speaking on how AIDS affects everyone.