Fraternities at colleges and universities have made for some negative headlines with the frat Sigma Alpha Epsilon in Oklahoma causing national outcry for singing a racist chant earlier this month. But one Troy fraternity is showing the capital region that they're committed to doing good. Katie Eastman reports.
TROY, N.Y. -- When they bought the church on Congress Street in Troy in 2011, the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity made a promise.
"Leave it better than when we found it," said fraternity president, John Stall.
With the reputation that comes with a frat house those words weren't fully bought by the Mount Ida neighborhood.
"I was shocked," said Alysia Hamilton who lives on Pinewoods Avenue .
Hamilton will tell you these brothers stuck true to their word. They helped her with a community grant a year ago and she came to a presentation at their converted church on Wednesday night to watch them help others all over again.
"Anything that's just an improvement to your building space or your land is pretty much eligible for it," said Stall.
With the money they saved selling their old house, Phi Kappa Sigma gives out up to 10 micro-grants a year to anyone wanting to create a better space in the Mount Ida community.
Alysia lives across the street from buried soldiers whose families are no longer here to care for their graves. She noticed broken stones of veterans from the 1800's in the New Mount Ida Cemetery and applied for a grant through the fraternity to fix them.
With the $1,000 grant, Alysia and other friends and volunteers repaired 25 to 30 other stones, proving a promise can be kept from an unlikely place.
If you'd like to apply for a grant, you can find the applications on their Facebook page here.