MARQUETTE — After last week’s blizzard, many people were left with multiple feet of snow covering their driveways and walkways. This snow posed an imposing challenge, especially for seniors and people with disabilities. That’s where Northern Michigan University fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon came in.

“So a big thing about Tau Kappa Epsilon is we always like to be involved in the community and helping out where we can,” said Devin Alexander of TKE. “Last year we did a lot of volunteering at the warming center and this year we were just looking for new ways to get involved in the community. We live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We get a good amount of snow, so why not offer to shovel people’s driveways?”

TKE put out a post on a Marquette Facebook group advertising their free shoveling services and soon the requests came pouring in.

“I think just this past Wednesday, I was getting either called or texted probably every 20 minutes or so,” said Alexander.

As of Saturday, TKE members had helped shovel out 10 to 15 houses and had more shoveling services scheduled.

“It got to the point that we didn’t have enough people to go out and (shovel) everyone,” said Alexander.

Alexander and his fraternity brothers have been traveling as far as Gwinn and Negaunee to shovel people’s driveways, on top of their studies and other work commitments.

“People have been very appreciative,” said Alexander. “A lot of the people we’re doing this for are elderly people or people with disabilities who can’t do it themselves.

“We’ve been doing it for free, but a lot of people have still tried to give us money anyway. We do our best not to take it, but if they do insist everything that we’ve gotten from people so far is going right into our donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is Tau Kappa Epsilon members help community with shoveling after blizzard.