Greeks4Kids officials are working to gain university recognition and to determine their role within the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.

Acting Executive Director Ali Ingersoll said the Interfraternity Council (IFC), Panhellenic Council (PHC) and THON overall committee do not agree on the organization’s ideal role. Greeks4Kids is now working with the three groups to define that.

In 2009, the THON overall committee removed the two greek associate vice president (AVP) positions from the overall committee and allowed the IFC and PHC to have a say in who their communications captains were, IFC President Max Wendkos said. The positions already existed — greeks were just given input in choosing who would fill the roles, he said.

After that switch, the IFC and PHC executive boards created Phi Tau Kappa, a greek organization formed to assist the greek communication captions that morphed into Greeks4Kids last year, he said.

Now the organization is focused on gaining university recognition — which consists of creating bylaws and a mission statement, among other steps — and figuring out what its role should be, Ingersoll (junior-broadcast journalism and communication arts and sciences) said.

Mike Lombardi, executive director of Greeks4Kids, said the group is now in the midst of the approval process.

Lombardi (senior-supply chain) said he could not comment on details of the group’s plans for structure and events. This year, IFC, PHC and Greeks4Kids were not asked to be a part of the selection process for their communication liaisons, a change from past years.

Overall THON Chairwoman Kirsten Kelly (senior-marketing) said Greeks4Kids doesn’t have enough direction yet to warrant input in selecting greek liaisons to the communication committees. But Wendkos (senior-marketing and psychology) said Greeks4Kids gave input last year, though it didn’t have Penn State approval.

Wendkos said Greeks4Kids did not seek approval last year because they were under the umbrella of the IFC and PHC. When Greeks4Kids became a stand-alone organization, the group began the process of gaining university recognition, Wendkos said.

Jony Rommel, overall public relations chairwoman for THON, said the committee would like to see what the role of the communication captions in Greeks4Kids is, so they can decide how it will best benefit THON.