Ghouls, ghosts, goblins, spooks and UA greeks

Randy Metcalf Arizona Daily Wildcat Accounting finance senior Alex Rios, from Omega Delta Phi, puts on a scare for Tucson children at the Holmes-Tuttle Boys & Girls Club haunted house Friday night. Members of the fraternity were there with initiates from Kappa Delta Chi. Admission was free to this one-night event.

About 500 children screamed with fright and delight as they crept through a haunted house at the Holmes-Tuttle Boys & Girls Club, sponsored by Omega Delta Phi fraternity, with the help of Kappa Delta Chi sorority, Tau Beta Pi engineering honorary and Phi Lambda, a service-oriented club.

"I think stuff like this is a great idea," said Laurie Hightower, who brought her 8-year-old daughter, Brandy, to the event.

The sponsors also organized a carnival in the club's gymnasium, covering it with orange and black streamers and balloons.

Costume-clad children could bob for apples, have their fortunes read or maneuver through an obstacle course.

"It's really amazing to see their smiles," said Cisco Aguilar, an accounting finances senior and Omega Delta Phi member.

The fraternity and the Boys & Girls Club, which began planning for the seventh annual Halloween party at the end of the summer, started setting up skulls, black tarps and coffins at 7 a.m. Friday morning.

Most of the haunted house props and candy prizes were donated by local businesses.

"Our primary goal is to get everything donated," said Andrew Lopez, a human development junior and service chairman for Omega Delta Phi.

Although the event was open to the community, club director John McDowell said most who attended were either club members or their siblings.

"It's great because children can come here and play," said Elizabeth Lopez, 12.

The fraternity also sponsors an Easter-egg hunt at the Boys & Girls Club in the spring where they raffle off four $50 savings bonds donated by Norwest Bank. The bonds are meant to help pay for college tuition.

The community service-based fraternity has received several awards from the Holmes-Tuttle Boys & Girls Club for its commitment.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America work to help youth from all backgrounds, with special concern for those from disadvantaged circumstances, develop the qualities needed to become responsible citizens and leaders.

The University of Arizona chapter averages 1,300 to 1,400 community service hours per year, said Mario Encinas, a math senior and chapter historian.

"One of our main objectives as a fraternity is to serve the community," Lopez said.

The 35-member fraternity also volunteers at Project YES, tutoring children and teaching them to read, Adopt-A-Highway, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Our Town, helping underprivileged children attend college though a scholarship program.

"There's a lot of kids out there who never thought of going to college," said Aguilar, also Associated Students executive vice president.

Unlike some fraternities that fund raise for organizations, Omega Delta Phi helps the community hands-on.

"We donate our time and effort," Lopez said.

The fraternity was established primarily to serve the Hispanic community, Encinas said.

Although it still emphasizes Hispanic heritage, it has expanded its focus point to include all the many ethnicities.

"I think we're one of the most diverse fraternities on campus," Lopez said.

Stephanie Corns can be reached via e-mail at Stephanie.Corns@wildcat.arizona.edu.