MU fraternities Tau Kappa Epsilon and Delta Chi have set up drop sites and fundraisers to give the Columbia community another way to help with the Joplin disaster.

“We had some members personally affected, and we couldn’t drive down there,” Tau Kappa Epsilon member Tim Franklin said.

Delta Chi member Casey Berner said he knew the tornado presented a good opportunity for Greek Life and the community to work together.

“I kind of just woke up this morning and was on Facebook and was like, ‘We need to do something,'” he said. “With Greek Life, rarely do we all just get together and use our ability, backing and support to do good.”

[Delta Chi has set up a drop location](http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121914191223857) for supplies and basic necessities they plan to take down to Joplin.

TKE joined with local restaurant The Heidelberg [to host a clothes collection drive](http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=221532597874900), as well as a fundraiser on June 9, when 10 percent of all receipts and a $5 band cover charge goes toward relief efforts.

“We wanted to get the whole community involved,” Franklin said. “The first thing we thought of was to contact businesses. The owner of The Heidelberg was the most willing to cooperate, so we went with them.”

Berner said Delta Chi’s drop site has already had a great deal of success, and it began only Monday. According to a [Google Doc the fraternity made public](https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AigZDqarYvAEdHZQaWxhZi04Sl93RVBtXzlCMnVsdEE&hl=en_US&authkey=CPPJ04cO#gid=0), 178 different items have already been collected, and that doesn’t take into account the quantity of each item.

“Within the first hour or two we had a ton of people drop stuff off,” he said.

Both Berner and Franklin said people just want to do whatever they can to help.

“A lot of people just want to go down there and help,” Berner said. “What we’ve heard is that’s not a good idea just yet. Just people is not what they want. Supplies are the best way we thought we could help.”

Delta Chi will be collecting through Friday, and might collect more after that. TKE’s clothing collection will run from June 6 at 11 a.m. to June 10. Members will be canning from June 8 to June 11.

“This is our one chance to do something as a community,” Franklin said. “It’s really good to see everyone stepping out and helping with this. Hopefully it will be a great success.”