On a single Sunday morning in January, the local chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity collected $1,500 in donations to benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

The group's collection was part of the fraternity's nationwide ``Sunday of Hope'' campaign, which aims to raise $500,000 for the research hospital within five years. The Sunday of Hope campaign will run annually in January.

For 2006-07, the national fraternity raised $100,000, according to Trumaine Thomas, event marketing representative for St. Jude Region 11, which includes Michigan and Ohio.

``This is a fairly new partnership, and we're so grateful for their decision to chose us as their national philanthropy,'' Thomas said.

Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity was organized in 1911, on the campus of Indiana University in Indiana, primarily for African-American men.

For its commitment to St. Jude, the hospital will be naming the lobby of the Translational Trial Unit after the fraternity, Thomas said. The facility houses the HIV/AIDs program and the Sickle Cell Clinic for diseases that have especially affected people of African descent.

Of the churches approached, Mt. Zion Baptist Church invited the fraternity members to seek donations from its congregation, said chapter president Bill Chapman.

``Our goal was to raise $1,000, and we exceeded our goal,'' Chapman said. ``Some (people) had change, some had dollars; it was a concerted effort, and the members stepped up to the plate and they believed in the cause.

``It's not just a community problem; it's a nationwide problem, and that's what we're addressing.''

This article was provided by: Kalamazoo Gazette