Delta Chi and FarmHouse Fraternities are teaming up to build a $60,000 playground in the Brookings community of Indian Hills.

Indian Hills is a new community located on the south side of Brookings.

Nathan Condelli is the mastermind behind the project. He was looking for a way to get the Delta Chi Fraternity more involved in the Brookings community. He decided to talk to the Brookings City Planner Jeff Walden about building a playground in the community of Brookings.

He was told that the project would cost about $80,000, but if the fraternity volunteered their time during the building process they could cut the cost down to about $60,000. He soon realized this is something Delta Chi could not do alone and asked FarmHouse to take part in the project.

There have only been a few Fraternities for Playgrounds events this semester, such as a dunk tank at Rally at the Rails and a pancake breakfast at Wooden Legs Brewery the day after Hobo Day. More than 70 people show up for breakfast and a number of people used the dunk tank. The big push in fundraising will come next semester said Joe Yetzer, a FarmHouse Fraternity member.

The rest of the semester the fraternities will be looking into larger campaign items and donations and are hoping to reach out to local business Condelli said.

The playground is set to be built by the end of next semester so the fraternities need to continue to plan bigger fundraisers to reach their goal of $60,000, Yetzer said.

 This collaboration is something both fraternities said they hope to continue and are hoping to work toward a better community, Condelli said.

The fraternities currently meet for weekly meetings to continue brainstorming ideas for fundraisers.

 “Events like this are important because it takes fraternities away from what movies portray fraternities as to what we actually are about,” said Cody Darley, Delta Chi Fraternity member, “Which is building the community, personal leadership and helping to put our names to better causes.”