Bigs and Littles came together on Saturday, October 13, 2012 to clean pumpkins in preparation for the Fall Festive, cleaned the trails in the Bamboo Forest at the Rutgers Gardens, and weeded the vegetable patch. It was a great bonding experience, and in this way brothers were able to give back to a very vital organization on in our campus community. It is tradition for our chapter to help out at the Rutgers Gardens every semester to introduce our new members to our ideal "Promotion of Agriculture.”

Brothers at the Alpha Zeta table participated in the annual Monster Mash at the Cook/Douglass Rec. Center. They gave out candy to the children of New Brunswick and played a game with them, so that the children could have a safe place to participate in trick or treating.  Activities included a haunted house trail; a sensory station, candy give out station, a photo booth and a mummy wrap game station. Cook Chapter’s booth offered face painting and a bean bag toss game for the children.

One of our Alpha Zeta alumni from Rutgers, Devon Craft, and her family were victims of Hurricane Sandy.  She reached out to the Cook Chapter of Alpha Zeta, here at Rutgers, for volunteers to assist her family in removing debris and cleaning up her home. They needed to dispose of belongings, mold, and throw out destroyed pieces of their house. We extended this need for help out to the brotherhood in hopes that some brothers would be able to volunteer their time over the weekend to help Devon and her family.

Brothers helped Farmers Against Hunger glean collard greens at Giamerese Farm. Gleaning is the harvesting of produce that would otherwise go to waste to be donated to a food bank. Cook chapter helps with gleaning every fall, to help promote agriculture and give some of our brothers experience in a farm setting, as some of them want to become farmers in the future.

Fall Festival, on Sunday, October 14, 2012, is a Rutgers Gardens Sponsored celebration of the Fall Season in its entirety while also showcasing the beauty and hard work of the Gardens association. Alpha Zeta brothers worked at the Fall Festival and their jobs included directing children and families through the scavenger hunt where participants were able to appreciate the variety of plant species and general beauty of the location. Brothers also helped set up the signs, the food court, and clean up at the of six hour day. It was a wonderful contribution to the community.

As part of the rush process, Cook chapter organized a card making event. On Thursday, September 20, potential new members would come to the campus center, where brothers would be providing all sorts of materials. The Halloween Cards made were sent to the children in the St. Peter’s Hospital Pediatric Unit. Cook Chapter tries to make cards for the children for all occasions, including Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas for the children. We hope that our contributions make their days a little brighter.

As part of Rutgers' Homecoming spirit week, Cook Chapter participated in the annual Bed Races. Each group was given a hospital bed and a week. The purpose was to pick a theme and decorate both your bed and your racers in that theme. Cook Chapter this year decided on the farming/Wizard of Oz theme. Our name was spelled out in corn husks on the front, while corn stalks grew out of the bed posts. Our bed rider dressed up as the wicked witch of the west, even coloring her face green. Each team has two people running and pushing the bed and one person on it. Other themes included the Rugrats, where the bed was Raptar, the Blue Man Group, Nintendo, and Christmas...

On Saturday, October 20th, members of the Cook Chapter of Alpha Zeta teamed up with Clean Ocean Action to pick up trash from our local beaches. Our chapter went to Point Plesant, NJ for the day, picking up cigarette butts, small pieces of plastic, and even needles from the sandy beach. The cleanup was a huge success, and Cook Chapter even got mentioned in the local Asbury Park Press. The Clean Ocean Action group organized hundreds of volunteers to clean beaches all up and down the New Jersey Shoreline.

Each December, the North Carolina Chapter partners with Operation Holiday Cheer to help support a family going through rough times enjoy the holiday season. Operation Holiday Cheer located a family for us to contact. We found out that the family includes a single mom with two boys ages 3 and 11, as well as a 7 year old girl. A hat was passed around at each meeting in November for brothers to make donations. Alumni were also notified and gave very generous donations. We raised about $450 from brothers and alumni.

The North Carolina Chapter is very active in working, volunteering and enjoying the annual State Fair in Raleigh. Many brothers helped out with our Pork Chop Fundraiser, but least ten brothers worked or volunteered with other activities at the fair October 11^th through the 21^st.