The UA greek community will come together and flex its philanthropic muscles today when it kicks off its first Greek Week in several years.

Greek Week, which is being held for the first time since 1998, is full of charitable events as well as fun activities for sorority and fraternity chapters to build a more united greek community.

Greek Week will include a Catwalk fundraiser, which will benefit the Bobby Olson Memorial Foundation.

The foundation promotes ovarian cancer research and was formed in memory of Bobby Olson, the late wife of UA basketball head coach Lute Olson.

This is the third year of the Catwalk and over $7,000 has already been raised, said Zadok Huang, a coordinator for the program and a business senior.

For the first time, the Catwalk is being opened up to those outside the greek community, Huang said.

The entry fee for the Catwalk is $15, and 20 percent of the chapter members in Greek Week must participate.

Huang said Greek Week was brought back this year because he and others felt it would help to unite the greek community and bring the many fraternity and sorority chapters together.

"We want to build a united community," he said.

This is something Huang said is currently missing from the greek community.

There is not enough interaction between the different chapters, especially large and small ones, Huang said.

Large and small chapters will be grouped together for Greek Week.

Approximately 30 out of the almost 50 chapters at the UA are participating in the event, a level of participation that exceeded expectations, Huang said.

Some of the lack of participation is due to smaller chapters, some with only one or two members, who cannot afford to participate, Huang said.

No system has been worked out yet to include these chapters.

The entry fee for Greek Week is $12 per person.

There are well over 800 people participating in the program, Huang said.

Other philanthropic events include canned food and blood drives, a "Greek Family Feud" game show, an air-band competition and the Greek Olympics, which will include activities like a pie eating contest, an obstacle course and a tug-of-war.