Community Service and philanthropy

Mateo’s Story

Mateo “The Beast” Cota was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia 11 days before his second birthday.  Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, where immature white blood cells are over-produced and multiply in the bone marrow, inhibiting production of normal cells. It is most commonly diagnosed in children, ages 2-5.  Ever since his diagnosis, Mateo along with his family have been intermittently traveling from their home in Arroyo Grande to Los Angeles so that Mateo may receive treatments.  In order to care for The Beast, both of Mateo’s parents were forced to leave their jobs so they could be with him on his many trips to treatment in LA.

It was at this point that Mateo’s Mom reached out to the Cal Poly Greek community in hopes of support. It was here that ZBT jumped on board and we have been all in ever since. Since 2012, ZBT has been a proud supporter of the Cota family as they overcome this obstacle. Though Mateo is currently in remission, ZBT continues to assist the Cota family in any way possible.

In regards to community service, the Eta Mu Chapter pushes for the highest degree of civic engagement amongst its brothers. Each brother is required to complete a minimum of 10 hours of community service per quarter, and many brothers additionally serve San Luis Obispo through various other organizations present at Cal Poly. Some of our highlighted service events include helping out local elementary schools and fairs, cleaning up many of the area’s beautiful hiking trails, volunteering for the Special Olympics, and much, much more. Social Responsibility is one of ZBT’s core pillars—we aim to embody it to the best of our ability throughout our time as students at Cal Poly and citizens of SLO.