One of the most important values that any person should possess is the desire and understanding to give back to the local and/or national community. The world is a pretty big place, and it may seem difficult to even make a ripple out there with the amount of suffering and great difficulties people face every day, but it's not impossible. All it takes is one small drop in the bucket to make an impact and change a life.
The Ability Experience, formerly known as PUSH America, is a philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity that has made a huge impact on many lives. Most of the lives it has impacted are those with disabilities because that is the main focus of this organization. The Ability Experience strives to build relationships and communities that recognize and value the abilities of all people. The Ability Experience achieves this goal by instilling its values into those who participate in events and work with the organization. These values are integrity, empathy, abilities, and teamwork. Values of this organization can be instilled into its participants and those who work with The Ability Experience on a local, state, or even a national level.
A few events that The Ability Experience encompasses on a national or state level are Journey of Hope, Gear Up Florida, and Build America. Although some events are exclusive to Pi Kappa Phi members only, there are other ways people who are not members may become involved. The Ability Experience Challenges allow those who are not members to participate in several challenges such as Summit Vision and the Marine Corps Marathon.
On a local level, however, every chapter of Pi Kappa Phi puts on local philanthropy events throughout the year to help raise awareness and funds for The Ability Experience. Some events that take place are Pie A PiKapp, War of the Roses, and Tour de PiKapp.
Pie A PiKapp involves members of the fraternity taking a pie to the face multiple times throughout a day or however long they decide to raise awareness or funds for The Ability Experience.
War of the Roses is a week long competition between sororities in which they compete in numerous games while raising awareness such as wheelchair basketball, beepball, bake-offs, and many more events.
Tour de PiKapp is an event where a chapter may set up stationary bikes and bike continuously while taking shifts between members and anyone willing to join for however long they see fit to raise enough awareness. Some Tour de PiKapp events may last from 24 to 100 continuous hours or more.
These are local events and are not nationally recognized by The Ability Experience but are just as important to the cause as any national event.
Although the funds that are raised are important to their success, the real initiative is to raise awareness of what people with disabilities can do instead of what they cannot do through a variety of programs.
You can find out more about The Ability Experience and their events from the following links:
The Ability Experience Website Home Page
Event Information
Local Chapter Donation Page
