The brothers of Theta Omicron (University of Nevada Reno) recently held their annual No Boundaries Week to benefit Push America and their volunteer relationship, Marvin Picollo School. The event ran from Sunday, April 5 through Wednesday, April 8 and focused on serving people with disabilities in the Reno area and highlighting the abilities of all people through teamwork, empathy and integrity.

The week was kicked off with the chapter’s second annual 72-hour “Cycle-A-Thon,” where brothers were joined by other members of the university community to cycle on stationary bicycles from Sunday to Wednesday. At least one brother was on one of the two stationary bicycles at all times. Together the group rode over 4,000 miles, simulating the length traveled by Journey of Hope teams each summer.

The brothers also planned an event during the week in conjunction with Special Olympics’ “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign. The brothers spearheaded the campaign efforts on campus and were able to get over 500 university and community members to sign a pledge to discontinue the use of “retard” in their vocabulary. The brothers encouraged all of those involved to become more involved, with hopes that more people will become aware of the hurtful nature of the word.

“Being new on our campus, we strive to make our chapter stand out and be visible through our philanthropy events,” said Tim Taycher, Push America chairman for the chapter. “People First of Nevada was actually having their state convention in our student union at the same time as our Cycle-A-Thon, which helped reinforce to our community that people with disabilities should truly be seen for their abilities. We had an amazing response to our pledge cards to remove the ‘r-word’ from casual conversation as well. Overall, I think the week was a huge success!”

Push America would like to thank the brothers of Theta Omicron for the efforts on behalf of Push America and people with disabilities. For more information on how you can become more involved please contact Andrew Matznick, director of chapter services, at (704) 504-2400 ext. 117 or amatznick@pushamerica.org.