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Greeks, Domino's combine to help literacy program

The Greek system and Domino's pizza are lending a hand to literacy in Ann Arbor with a program that donates $0.50 from pizzas bought by Greek community members to the Washtenaw Literacy Program.

"People eat pizza anyway," said Terry Landes, fraternity coordinator for the Interfraternity Council. "So if we can turn something that people ordinarily do anyway into a benefit for the community -- that's exactly what we want to do."

The Pieces of Pie program began in the fall semester of 1994 when the money donated went to the HIV/AIDS Resource Center in Ypsilanti. University graduate John Rotche, who was then manager of the Ann Street Domino's, came up with the idea for the program.

"Having graduated from Michigan, I was familiar with a lot of groups," he said. "Since they eat a lot of pizza to begin with, I thought it would be a neat idea if we could give (students) a reason to order from Domino's and help them out by giving money back to their charity."

The Greek system chose to donate to the Washtenaw Literacy Program because it serves an educational benefit, Landes said. The program began receiving the proceeds last fall.

"It's a win-win situation," Landes said, "because the Greek community is able to give back without taking away from the other services they do now."

The Washtenaw Literacy Program trains volunteers to tutor adults one-on-one in basic literacy skills and English as a second language.

Washtenaw Literacy representative Kristine Komives said the group is currently underfunded. About 45 percent of the funding for the program comes from the federal government. By October 1996, they risk losing much of that funding as well as approximately three-fifths of their staff by the end of April 1996, Komives said.

"We're trying to reach out into the private sector for financial support and to increase general awareness in the community," Komives said.

"Literacy is important to the private sector because they are spending a lot more money than they would need to on basic on-the-job training for employees. By supporting literacy they are improving the chances of having a well-trained workforce."

So far the program has earned about $750 for Washtenaw Literacy, Komives said. The group is currently looking for ways to increase that total.

The Greek house that buys the most pizza each month receives a pizza party.

Last year, the program earned $3,300 for the HIV/AIDS Resource Center, Landes said.

The Domino's store has also benefited from the program.

"Our sales went up on the average of 85 percent. I have to attribute probably 40 percent of that to the Pieces of Pie program," Rotche said.

Despite reports that Domino's CEO Tom Monaghan has given financial support to anti-abortion groups, the program faced little opposition from Greek system members.

"Domino's is good pizza and the charity aspect is really nice," said Ravi Madan, president of Theta Xi fraternity. "You'll run into people (whose views) you disagree with but if you can look past those differences and help out a good charity -- it's great."

"I don't want to imply that (the Greek community) doesn't care about the issue," said Panhellenic Association adviser Mary Beth Seiler. "I brought it up for discussion, but we felt it was silly to discount the whole idea when there's so much good that can be done."

Seiler and Landes also noted the program is an Ann Street store promotion and is not in conjunction with the company owner.

Pi Beta Phi treasurer Sarah Chobanian said, "I think his views are unrelated and shouldn't overshadow the good the charity does."

Both Landes and Seiler said they would not have continued the program if it received many complaints, but so far the positive aspects have outweighed the political.