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MOMENT AT THE MUSEUM
ORIGINS OF THE ABILITY EXPERIENCE
"A Social Fraternity With a Heart"
by Rachel Greene
Moment at the Museum strives to tell the stories from within the walls of the Pi Kappa Phi museum to a wider audience, those who may not have visited National Headquarters or those who simply want a reminder of the historical treasures it holds. With the theme of this issue being “The Heart of Pi Kappa Phi,” we have chosen to focus on the history and origins of an entity of Pi Kappa Phi that so many brothers and friends hold close to their hearts: The Ability Experience.
When Durward Owen, Xi (Roanoke), took over as Pi Kappa Phi’s executive director in 1959, he set his sights on growing Pi Kappa Phi, which had a humble 52 chapters on its roster at the time. In the back of his mind, he had a dream of engaging the Fraternity’s undergraduate members in service to others. He wanted the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi to have a common cause, allowing chapters to learn the value of serving others while also connecting them in a shared experience to other members across the nation. He spent the first decade in his role focused on aggressive expansion and growth, building a strong membership and laying a foundation that he knew needed to be in place before he could focus his energy elsewhere. Without strong membership, he knew a national service project would hardly have mattered.
Twelve years later, the time finally seemed right for Owen’s longstanding goal to come to fruition, as the Fraternity had grown and reached a new level of stability, but the world had changed drastically. When he envisioned a national service project at the beginning of his career, the country was embarking on a decade of political engagement, student activism and revolution on college campuses. Students were engaged members of their campus communities and cared passionately about causes they found important. Protests and rallies brought life to campus quads and strong voices to students who had previously walked to class quietly. During this time, Owen strategically designed bumper stickers using Pi Kappa Phi’s Greek letters to form the peace symbol in hopes of engaging students who were interested in these causes and possibly seeming more relatable to gain some respect from the Fraternity’s undergraduate members. In 1971, though, when it became realistic for Owen to devote time to planning a national project, the college landscape was more complicated, shifting seemingly overnight to a quiet, apathetic environment. Disillusioned with the political landscape and no longer confident in their ability to make real change, students began to be less involved with organizations and causes that were important to them, feeling as if the things they were doing didn’t really matter. To counter this widespread attitude in Pi Kappa Phi members, and to align with current undergraduate student interests, Owen set out to start a national service project to help save the environment.
Earlier that year, Owen met Bennett Smith, Gamma Mu (Belmont Abbey), a Boy Scout troop leader. As the two talked about Pi Kappa Phi and the Boy Scouts of America, they found common threads of interest among the membership of each organization. To both Boy Scouts and the average college student in 1971, the well-being of the environment was a major concern. To Owen and Smith, the idea of a collaboration between these organizations had great promise, so Pi Kappa Phi decided to join the Boy Scouts of America in their service initiative, Project SOAR, short for “Save Our American Resources,” a project that the two organizations hoped would engage members in service, build affinity to their respective organizations and make a tangible impact on both their local communities and the country. Owen piloted the project to schools near the National Office in Charlotte, North Carolina, and with much excitement, presented the idea at Pi Kapp College, regional conclaves and to the Supreme Chapter. Much to his disappointment, students vehemently disliked the idea, so the project fizzled out while still in its infancy. As he scrapped his plans, and undoubtedly felt a bit defeated, it would have been impossible for Owen to know then, that this instance he considered a “failure,” was simply a guidepost leading him to one of the greatest feats he would accomplish in his career as executive director of Pi Kappa Phi.
After yet another failed attempt to engage Pi Kappa Phi in a philanthropic project, this time through an initiative called “Small Acts of Kindness,” Owen and the National Council discussed abandoning the search for a national service project. It was 1972 at this point, and there was a clear reason for students not engaging with their communities the way they once had; they were concerned for their futures and lives. While full-time college students were able to get a legal deferment from the Vietnam War draft in the late 1960s, by the early 1970s, most deferments were dropped, excluding divinity students and medical students. By 1972, nearly all male undergraduate students faced the uncertainty associated with the draft. During these unprecedented times, the National Council made the wise decision to not fully abandon the search, but rather put it on hold as the Fraternity worked to build its membership and finances during wartime. Four years later, the time seemed right for the search to resume.
In August 1975, Owen proposed legislation at the 35th Supreme Chapter directing the Fraternity to adopt a national project. It was determined that the project would be singular in nature, and one which Pi Kappa Phi would be the sole beneficiary of. This would be no simple feat, as no fraternity had introduced a project like this in the past, and there were no contemporary references to which Owen could base his work. Never shying away from a challenge, the work of determining the project began immediately following Supreme Chapter.
The initial idea considered by the National Council was a blood bank program specifically for members of Pi Kappa Phi. National Council member John Wilson, Eta (Emory), served as
(continued from page 33) the executive vice president of the American Red Cross at the time, so an arrangement could have likely been made for a partnership, but the Supreme Chapter had called for a project that was Pi Kappa Phi’s very own, and thus the search continued. While a blood bank was a good idea in theory and could certainly make a difference, it also relied on college students spending their weekends giving blood and wouldn’t have provided the service experience Owen had hoped.
Not knowing what his next steps should be, Owen did what he often found himself doing to advance the Fraternity, finding people who knew more about the topic at hand than he did. As a member of the Governor’s Advocacy Council for Children and Youth, Owen met Dr. Iverson Riddle, the general director of Western Carolina Center (now the J. Iverson Riddle Development Center), a renowned facility for people with disabilities in North Carolina. The two men discussed the needs of North Carolina that could potentially be needs that existed on a national level that would interest undergraduate students. Riddle mentioned that North Carolina needed an educational entity that could focus on advocacy. Owen presented the idea in the form of a “School of Advocacy” project to the National Council but was advised by council member Wilson that there needed to be a hands-on relationship between undergraduate members and the project for it to be effective. With this in mind, Owen returned to Western Carolina Center to talk with Riddle once again. It was then in October 1976, that Riddle introduced Owen to a young man on his staff, Thomas Sayre.
After receiving bachelor’s degrees in both English and fine arts from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Sayre had gone on to study art at the University of Michigan, where he also served as the University’s resident sculptor. While Sayre had many career opportunities presented to him following graduation, Dr. Riddle offered him the chance to work toward something he was passionate about: his core belief that people with disabilities would achieve a higher level of independence and self-management if society had afforded them the opportunity to engage in play as children like their peers without disabilities. The state of North Carolina had no space on its financial agenda for a sculptor to be hired, so for all intents and purposes, Sayre was listed on the books as a janitor. In his role, Sayre was tasked with creating an outdoor, sculptured playground that would be safe for people with disabilities. As Owen talked to Sayre about his work, he could tell that the young man was looking to continue this project and expand it to reach more people with disabilities. Luckily for Sayre, Owen knew just how they could go about making that happen.
After discussing the idea with the National Council, Wilson, the council liaison to the nation project, agreed that Sayre was a bright young man with a great idea for a hands-on service experience for undergraduate members, and the proposed project was given the green light. In 1977 at the 36th Supreme Chapter in New Orleans, Louisiana, P.U.S.H. was officially adopted as the national project of Pi Kappa Phi, and Sayre was honored as the model initiate for his contributions to the initiative. He was designated as a member of the Kappa Chapter at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he completed his undergraduate degree. With help from Sayre, Owen’s vision had at last been realized after 18 years, and it was more impactful than he could’ve ever imagined. This project alone shifted Pi Kappa Phi from a social fraternity like all others to “a social fraternity with a heart,” Owen wrote in “The Brotherhood,” Pi Kappa Phi’s centennial history book.
As The Ability Experience approaches its 50th anniversary, the organization has evolved in many meaningful ways. Today, The Ability Experience is an independent entity within the Fraternity, but as the 35th Supreme Chapter decided, remains exclusive to Pi Kappa Phi. The Ability Experience remains committed to its mission of using shared experiences to support people with disabilities and develop the men of Pi Kappa Phi into servant leaders, and to its vision of creating a community, one relationship at a time, where the abilities of all people are recognized and valued. To make this mission and vision a reality, The Ability Experience hosts annual transformative summer events like the Journey of Hope and Gear Up Florida, programs with unique histories and stories of their own, as well as Ability Camps that regularly make an impact in different communities throughout the nation. Undergraduate chapters fundraise $850,000 annually through events like War of the Roses and bike-a-thons, and collectively to date, The Ability Experience has fundraised more than $30 million, which has been distributed across the country to benefit people with disabilities and utilized to provide as many opportunities for men of Pi Kappa Phi to engage in servant leadership as possible.
What started as Owen’s hope and dream for Pi Kappa Phi has become something more, something greater than he could have ever imagined. The founding of P.U.S.H., now The Ability Experience, is what Owen recalls as his greatest achievement as executive director. Undoubtedly, the numerous communities who have benefitted from the funds raised or the joy shared at a Friendship Visit over the years, the men of Pi Kappa Phi who have experienced what it means to become a servant leader and the brothers who have witnessed how this philanthropic initiative has strengthened their chapter’s bonds of brotherhood, would agree with him.
To learn more about The Ability Experience and how the men of Pi Kappa Phi bring the organization’s mission to life, visit abilityexperience.org.
