Members of AEPi - from left, Jeff Justiz, Aron Katz, Paul Hertz, Brandon Desyatnik, Matt Harris and Ryan Levey - pose with a banner advertising the Gift of Life drive at York University.  AEPi recently teamed up with Hillel at York to sign up more than 60 potential donors through Gift of Life, a worldwide bone marrow registry.

Philanthropy has always been a cornerstone of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.  For over 90 years, our group of Jewish men have come together to make the community as a whole a better place to be.  The AEPi chapter found at York University is no exception.

AEPi at York boasts more than 40 members who are committed to improving the lives of Jews on campus and in the community.  Our brothers are always looking for ways to volunteer and over the past few years we have raised money for numerous charities including Magen David Adom, Ve’ahavta: The Canadian Jewish Humanitarian Relief Committee and Mazon Canada among several other great organizations.  However, we do more than just raise money.

We have also volunteered hands on at events such as the General Assembly (which was recently held in Toronto) and we are perennial volunteers at the UJA Walk With Israel.  We look forward to the walk this year, which is only a few weeks away. However, the event that I think we are all the most proud of is our annual Gift of Life donor recruitment drives.  While every cause is worthy, the Gift of Life (which helps to find bone marrow matches with a specific focus on finding Jewish donors) is an organization that we feel very strongly for.  Over the last two years we have registered over 200 people as potential bone marrow donors and may be able to save countless lives. 

It is important to note also that Alpha Epsilon Pi is an international organization with over 120 chapters and 80,000 brothers in Canada and the United States.  There is always the overtone of philanthropy with the selection of a new international philanthropy project each year.  Currently all chapters are working to raise money for two Ethiopian Jewish community centers in Israel.  We are nearing the end of a nearly two year campaign which has brought close to $100,000 to these centers.  One of the brothers here at York University, Paul Hertz, is on the committee that is currently assisting in the selection process of our next international philanthropy project. 

AEPi believes that philanthropy is not only something that should be done, but something that needs to be done. At York, we have a group of 40 young, Jewish men who have the ability to make a huge difference in this world. AEPi is not just about parties and sports.  We are a socially-conscious fraternity and it is our obligation to live up to our commitments as brothers and as Jews.  We know that what we do is small, but as the Talmud says, “He who saves one life, it is as if he saved the entire world.”