Fraternity Hosts Chabad Autism Fundraiser

The University of Illinois’ Zeta Beta Tau fraternity partnered with Illini Chabad and The Friendship Circle on Sunday to host the sixth annual Alley Oop for Autism fundraiser for children with special needs.

Zeta Beta Tau started hosting Alley Oop for Autism five years ago as a charity basketball event for children with autism. It is ZBT’s biggest philanthropy event of the year, with all of its members participating, as well as several sororities. This year, the event featured a handball tournament, arts and crafts and lunch for the participants. Tyler Spitz, president of ZBT and junior in Business, said the brothers changed the game because handball would be easier for the kids to play.

Neeraj Varyani, philanthropy chair for ZBT and junior in ACES, was one of the event organizers.

“We bring down kids from all over Illinois with special needs and we show them a fun time,” he said. “We get them to participate in a tournament, we get them to interact with the brothers of our house…We want to take them around the University of Illinois and just show them a good time.”

The organizers of the event, including Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, director of Illini Chabad, were proud of how the philanthropy event closed the distance between the fraternity brothers and the people they wanted to help.

“Here we’re actually working with the kids hands-on, and it’s not just about sending support,” Tiechtel said. “It’s about being a part of it and helping the kids as well.”

Rachel Whiteman, of East Lynn, Ill., attended the event for the second year in the row. Whiteman’s twin sons, Rylan and Alex, were born twelve weeks premature. Whiteman said Alex is undiagnosed, but is on the high end of the spectrum for Asperger’s Syndrome. Rylan, who designed this year’s T-shirt for the event, has cerebral palsy.

“It’s a fun day for them to have all of the attention on them,” she said, “We’ve had this on our calendar since last year. We didn’t know what day it was going to be, but we knew it was coming up, and they’ve just been counting down the days. They love coming.”

Andrew Gibson, the executive vice president of ZBT and junior in LAS, was one of the fraternity members on hand to help with the kids.

“I hope that everyone has a good time, especially the kids that are here,” he said. “I hope that they’re able to make a few new friends and feel more confident about themselves at the end of the day.”