COVID-19 Heroes

The kindness and commitment to responsible citizenship does not go unnoticed among Pi Kappa Phi’s membership. Throughout what has been an incredibly challenging year for many, undergraduate and alumni alike have served as exemplars of the fraternity’s values by stepping up to lead and serve where needed.

The fraternity is proud to recognize some of its members who have gone above and beyond their pledge to uphold Pi Kappa Phi’s values as outstanding community members and dedicated servant leaders. In challenging times, those who have challenged themselves to make a difference are deserving of praise.

Theta Kappa (Baylor)

MEMBERS OF THE Theta Kappa Chapter at Baylor utilized a donation from Baylor Scott & White and helped distribute more than 21,000 bottles of hand sanitizer donated to the university this fall across campus to greek organizations and residence halls, providing more than $110,000 worth of product.

“In a year of a pandemic and a year when nobody is getting to do anything, we’re getting to help,” Chapter Advisor Randy Wood said in an article from the Baylor Lariat, Baylor’s student-run newspaper. “We hope it will help continue to make our campus safe. We are down to around 74 active cases now. I’m ready to see us going down to zero, and maybe this will help us do that. We hope so.”

Chapter member Christian McSweeny expressed that he and his brothers were more than happy to help their campus community, and were able to use the volunteer experience as an opportunity to come together as a brotherhood to make an impact.

“We are super excited about this,” McSweeny said. “This is something I think is really great, especially considering we are in the middle of the pandemic. Hopefully, this can alleviate some uncertainty with the times that are going on right now. We just want to do everything we can to help out the Baylor community and to help Waco.” 

Ryan Pernice, Psi (Cornell)

RYAN PERNICE, Psi (Cornell) alumnus and founder of RO Hospitality in Georgia, had been serving his community at each of his three restaurants for nearly a decade, but when COVID-19 impacted the restaurant industry, he opened his doors to the possibility of service in a greater context.

“A leader can say anything except ‘I give up,’” Pernice said in a Forbes article, written by fellow Psi alumnus Shahar Ziv. “We’ll continue the fight.”

In late March, as COVID-19 began to impact traditional dining, RO Hospitality launched a program to feed their community called “Table & Aid,” and have served close to ten thousand people in need of food. ETA PHI (UMBC) alumnus Ian Ramsay Turner’s sense of community drove him to make a difference. As a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, situated between the University of Virginia Hospital and Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital systems, many of his friends are medical professionals helping battle COVID-19.

“Immediately, our efforts became very real. Tangible. Immediate. And close. The abstractions are gone,” Pernice wrote in a Facebook post after receiving a heartfelt note from a community member. “This is a more visceral hospitality. And I am humbled and grateful to experience the welling of emotion for being able to do this work.”

Pernice’s commitment to bettering his community and putting service before self is exemplary of Pi Kappa Phi’s value, and we are proud of both his accomplishments in the hospitality industry and his compassionate approach to handling the impact of COVID-19. �

Ian Ramsay Turner, Eta Phi (UMBC)

ETA PHI (UMBC) alumnus Ian Ramsay Turner’s sense of community drove him to make a difference. As a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, situated between the University of Virginia Hospital and Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital systems, many of his friends are medical professionals helping battle COVID-19.

In a community of nurses, physician assistants, doctors, medical students and surgical technicians, Turner had frequently heard about the discomfort these professions had been feeling, citing soreness behind their ears from wearing a face mask for extended periods of time.

An engineer himself, when he saw a post on social media from his chapter brother Tony Digennaro on how to make ear guards that prevent soreness from long-term wear, he used his personal 3D printer and began working to distribute as many of the guards as he could on his own.

“Later that day, I got home from work and fired up my printer to start printing the ear guards,” Turner said. I wanted to be able to provide relief for those on the frontline of this pandemic, even if it was something as small as comfort. As printing began, I reached out to friends and family who I knew may need them.”

He quickly was able to distribute his initial run, and as supply struggled to meet the demand for more guards, he worked with his employer to utilize 3D printers at his place of work, and was able to create 2,000 ear guards in a matter of weeks for hospitals, local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Turner said he’s received a fantastic response from the people who have received ear guards, and in later batches, he’s been able to continue to print the guards in a variety of colors.

“Many of my coworkers’ family members and significant others are part of the medical community and once they got their ear guards, everyone in their units started asking for them as well,” Turner said. “All those who got the ear guards no longer had any complaints about discomfort.”

Serving his community by printing ear guards echoed back to Turner’s experience as an undergraduate member of Pi Kappa Phi, and harkened back to his commitment as a servant leader.

“Being a Brother of Pi Kappa Phi, Eta Phi instilled a strong sense of community from the moment I became an Associate Member,” Turner said. “Eta Phi has always participated in community events and helped in whatever ways we could, especially at a local Baltimore County Public School for the differently abled, Maiden Choice. Along with our commitment in our community, our chapter took a strong focus on The Ability Experience.”

“With all of my experiences combined, I felt a great responsibility in taking action to help those on the front lines of the pandemic in any way that I could.” �