By Jack Bowman

Puppies stole the show on McKeldin Mall Friday as a part of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity’s “Paws and Taus” event.

The event, which ran from 3 to5 p.m., gave students a chance to pet dogs and eat Maryland Dairy ice cream as finals week approaches. 

“We think that this event is important because of two main reasons: it helps students… alleviate stress by petting adorable puppies,” said Vandan Patel, Phi Kappa Tau philanthropy chair.

Patel went on to explain that the event also helps raise money for the fraternity’s philanthropy, SeriousFun Children’s Network. 

“What they do is they provide a great camp experience and medical care to children with illnesses who can’t really participate in normal camp experience,” the sophomore said. 

Another member of Phi Kappa Tau, Ethan Zhang, also mentioned SeriousFun as the main reason why the event is important. 

“This is providing… sick children with a summer camp experience. That way they can have fun, because otherwise they wouldn’t really [be able] to,” Zhang said. 

The event has been held by Phi Kappa Tau for several years. 

“We started it back in 2021,” senior and former philanthropy chair Charlie Hall said. “Back then it was just our fraternity… we didn’t do it with any other organizations. From that it just grew.”

The dogs for the event were provided by Fidos for Freedom, a non-profit that serves the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. 

The organization’s mission, as stated on their website, is to provide specially trained dogs in a variety of areas, including service dogs, PTSD dogs and therapy dogs. 

“They’re all trained or are in training,” said Nancy Vasquez, an employee at Fidos for Freedom, of the dogs at the event. “These specifically, here, are therapy dogs.”

The event went forward despite intermittent rain throughout, as the dogs and the puppy-seeking students took shelter under tents provided by Phi Kappa Tau.

“A lot of people were wondering about what we were going to do with the rain,” Patel said. “Honestly, I made it a rain or shine event. We had these two big tents, so I figured it’s going to work out anyway.”

Featured Image: Students pet service dogs at the Paws and Taus event on May 10, 2024. Photo from Phi Kappa Tau Instagram.