Men from around the Greek system will vie for a spot as Alpha Gamma Delta's Mr. Greek 2007 tonight at the sorority's annual competition.

"The entire Iota Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta is involved in this pageant as well as many of the fraternities," said Janell Varga, philanthropy coordinator for Alpha Gamma Delta. "All of the contestants are gentlemen from the Greek community."

To prepare for a gratifying night of crowning Mr. Greek, many months of planning and organizing have been in effect.

"Each year in the fall, we invite all of the fraternities to participate," Varga said. "This is a year-round job and takes a lot of planning. We organize all of the activities and weekly meetings with the contestants as well as delegate tasks to the members of our sorority."

This year's contestants have gone through a vigorous process prior to taking the stage tonight.

"One gentleman from their house is chosen to represent them and throughout the course of three months (November through February), they fundraise for our philanthropies," Varga said. "They do this by holding events at their houses, finding corporate sponsors, writing to alumni, holding raffles, auctions, selling shirts and tickets ... whatever they can think of."

The contestants must also attend weekly meetings at the Alpha Gamma Delta house and receive coaching from members of the sorority.

"The event itself takes place on one evening," Varga said. "It's a formal pageant where the gentlemen do an opening choreographed dance routine together, a 'tuxedo walk' in which short biographies are read about them, and then they compete in a talent competition. We usually have a variety of talents ranging anywhere from interpretive dance to classical piano."

While Varga operates as the planner for the event, she said the event was a collaborated effort and would not be able to happen if all the fraternity contestants and members of Alpha Gamma Delta did not work together.

Money raised during the event will go to the Treehouse for Kids charity and the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation.

Treehouse for Kids benefits school funding and extracurricular programs for foster children in the King County, where the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation supports diabetes research.

"Our goal for this event every year is to increase our funds raised from the previous year," Varga said. "In 2006, the Mr. Greek event raised $20,810. We hope to increase awareness of our event and invite the entire campus, not just the Greek community. We also hope to represent the positive aspects of being part of the Greek community. The ideas of Greek life are not always well perceived, and holding events like Mr. Greek shows that, as a whole, we strive to work together to make a positive difference in not just our community, but those around us as well."

Reach reporter Vicky Yan at news@thedaily.washington.edu.