Ever since Beth Ann Samra was 3 years old, she's danced.

She competed in everything from tap and jazz to lyrical and ballet in high school.

Now, once a year, the family community services senior returns to the stage and performs.

This time she danced for charity at Tuesday's MTV Night dance competition held during Greek Week.

As a member of Pi Beta Phi, Samra has climbed on stage for the last three years for the charity fundraising event.

"Everything we do has a cause or a purpose," Samra said.

For two weeks each year, more than 45 MSU fraternities and sororities participate in activities to raise money for charities and create unity within the greek community, said Orna Theboul, Greek Week director and Gamma Phi Beta member.

In the first portion of Greek Week, students participated in Relay For Life and Special Olympics events. Donning their greek letters, they packed the Auditorium on Tuesday for the second half of Greek Week for an evening of entertainment. The annual festivities conclude this week with two more musical shows from which admission money is donated to charity.

Nearly 3,000 MSU students are members of the greek system, Theboul said.

"The point of Greek Week is to come together for a larger cause," said accounting freshman Riley Pratt, a Pi Kappa Alpha pledge. "It's about reaching out to everybody."

The goal for Greek Week is to collect $160,000 for seven different charities including the Ronald McDonald House, the Community Relations Coalition and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Theboul said.

"It's going to happen," she said.

The different houses compete against each other for points at the events.

Already the greeks have raised $108,000 in online donations for Relay For Life, but the dollars could keep coming until the April 7 deadline, said Theboul, a human resource management and international relations senior.

Besides donating money to the American Cancer Society, the greeks also headed out Thursday to IM Sports-West to help Special Olympics.

About 100 volunteers grabbed whistles and referee jerseys, handed out ribbons and kept score for volleyball and handball games. Other students retrieved bocce balls or cheered on the participants at the Area 8 Spring Sports Classic, said Kathlynn Doran, assistant director for Ingham County at Special Olympics of Michigan Area 8.

Ten-year-old Lindsey Shinaver proudly showed off her prizes to her "cheerleaders" — a group of sorority members volunteering.

"I can't wait to count them all," the Lansing athlete said, clutching her blue, yellow and red ribbons.

Lindsey's mother, Lisa Shinaver, described the greek volunteers as "compassionate."

"It makes (the athletes) feel so good that not just their family is here, but people they don't even know," she said.

Special Olympics was more than just a day to volunteer for Delta Gamma sophomore Krista Hadel. She could not decide between special or elementary education for her major.

"Then I remembered last year's Special Olympics," Hadel said.

Hadel chose special education.

This year Hadel and other members from Delta Gamma stood in the center of the IM West gymnasium Thursday and clapped enthusiastically as athletes in wheelchairs received ribbons.

"One guy was blowing me kisses," Hadel said.