What are our Panhellenic sororities doing in the Community?
We have eight wonderful sororities that focus so much of their time on the community. Each sorority participates in every fraternity and sorority philanthropy events throughout the year. The main goal is coming together and making our community better through reaching the needs of our community. With all of our women volunteering, we reach to over 50 Community Partners with over 5,000 volunteer hours last semester. We have listed a more detailed description of each individual chapter’s involvement in the community.
Delta Delta Delta
Tri Delta’s national philanthropy is children’s cancer research, and in 1999, the Mississippi State Tri Delta chapter was the first to officially adopt St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as its national philanthropic partner and host a Swinging for St. Jude softball tournament. St. Jude treats children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases; it costs over $1.5 million to run each day, yet they never ask families to pay what their insurance doesn't cover. In 2010, Tri Delta chapters around the country exceeded our “10 million in 10 years” pledge to the hospital by raising $10,643,582 in just four years. Our newest pledge to the hospital was announced to raise $15 million in five years. To date nationally, we have raised $3.9 million already, and the Beta Mu chapter has raised over $73,000 for St. Jude during the 2010-2011 year and was the third highest fundraising chapter in the nation! In the past two years, our chapter alone has raised almost $140,000 for St. Jude. We host two primary philanthropy events, Swinging for St. Jude and Letter-Writing Campaign along with various side events. Swinging for St. Jude is a softball tournament open to organizations on-campus and off-campus alike. The Letter-Writing Campaign creates awareness and raises funds for the hospital. At the 2010 St. Jude Collegiate Leadership Conference, the Beta Mu chapter won three of the seven possible national Tri Delta awards. In addition to our work with St. Jude, our members also participate in other fraternity and sorority philanthropy events and campus wide service events. We are very passionate about our philanthropic efforts to help St. Jude and other on-campus and off-campus organizations.
Kappa Delta
Kappa Delta is very involved in the community and values serving others. We have collected 19,795 cans for local food pantries during Lambda Chi Alpha Watermelon Fest. We have spend a lot of time with the Girl scouts which is one of our philanthropies including the Girl Scouts Uniquely Me Event, Girl Scouts Romp on the River in Tunic, MS, and Journey to Space with the local Girl Scouts in Starkville. Also, we have Member Group Leaders that are starting to go to every meeting and help out the Girl Scouts during that time. November 13th is the Nation Girls Scout day in Memphis and some of our members will be attending. Kappa Delta is also doing a Late Night Pancake dinner benefiting Prevent Child Abuse America later in the semester. We have members that go to Sally Kate Winters biweekly to serve the children and teens there. We have also raised money for the Haiti relief fund this semester as well as send cards to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond Virginia.
Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc
Delta Xi Phi has been working on a number of community service project ideas for this semester. Right now the projects that have been accomplished right now are cancer awareness booths, making books for Emerson Family Center, and donating cans to Lambda Chi Alpha. Every month we hold a cancer booth in the union to help raise money to send the American Cancer Society. This semester we held a skin cancer awareness booth on Sept. 1 in the Union. We gave out UV bracelets and informed students of the dangers of being out in the sun too long. We raised over $70 from 11am-1pm. On Sept. 15 we helped the Longest Student Health Center and Komen Breast Cancer pass out information about breast cancer. On Sept. 20 we made books for Emerson Family Center. We wrote children stories and will be donating them to Emerson Family Center. These books will go in their library for local families to check out.
Pi Beta Phi
Because philanthropic service to others is a core value of Pi Beta Phi, each and every member takes personal responsibility in contributing to the betterment of the local Starkville area. Members volunteer their own time to organizations around the community like Habitat for Humanity, the local Animal Shelter, and the Starkville Public Library. In addition Pi Phis can be seen participating in community events like bible schools, book drives, and even collecting box tops for the local elementary school. During September, our chapter devoted 85 hours in one week to serving the local animal shelter. This may not seem to have a large effect, but to the employees who dedicate themselves to the get the strays of Starkville into a home, it was rejuvenating. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. To celebrate, Pi Phi is volunteering for a week at AbilityWorks. This is an organization that employs mentally disabled adults and provides them with small tasks to complete, so they too may feel important and useful in life. These are just two of the many ways that Pi Beta Phi gives back to the local community here in Starkville.
Chi Omega
As a chapter, Chi Omega has been busy this past semester throughout the community. On October 31st we will be having our annual Chi O Carnival benefitting the Palmer Home in Columbus, Mississippi. This will be a time for the kids to come to our house for some fun, games and of course, lots of candy. Another one of our community outreach programs is Brickfire. This is an after school tutoring facility for elementary students. The students receive tutoring, snack, and a playtime from 3:30- 5:00. Our girls come to help the children and volunteer wherever needed. Also, Sunset Bible study is an after school Bible study for underprivileged children. Many of the girls in our sorority go once a week to spend time with the kids as they learn about the Bible. Lastly, many of the girls in our sorority volunteer at medical facilities throughout the Starkville and Columbus area. Since many are in medical related majors, these opportunities to serve are a great way to not only give back, but also receive mandatory observation hours. Overall our sorority has been busy throughout the community. We are looking forward to finding new ways to help and give back to the town we’ve all come to love.
Zeta Tau Alpha
The members of Zeta Tau Alpha have been working so hard this semester with a ton of service events. Since August, Zeta and the Breast Health Center here in Starkville have teamed up to bring awareness of Breast Cancer to Starkville. Donating over 50 pink baskets and collecting 40 bags of peppermints which have all been donated to the Breast Health Center. As well as bringing the Pink Heals Tour on October 2, which brought 2 pink fire trucks to Fire Station 1. The park was filled with activities and food which was donated by Little Dewey’s. October is Think Pink Month which is to one month out of the year to promote Breast Cancer and Education Awareness. So far, the girls have passed out over 5,000 pink ribbons to over 12 different high schools in their hometowns and over 300 to resident halls on the MSU campus. On November 5, 2010, Starkville High School will be participating in a Think Pink Football game. There will be a yogurt eating contest at half time as well as Zeta’s passing out pink ribbons and shower cards at the gate. Our Think Pink Week this year will be November. Late Night Cinnamon Roll Night is on Thursday November 11 and tickets are $3. There will also be a yogurt eating contest that night. Then on Friday November 12, Big Man on Campus tickets is $5. This is a male pageant show and all the proceeds will go to the ZTA Foundation. Starting November 8th and 10th there will be Best Chest held on the Drill Field which students will vote on and the winner will be announced at BMOC.
Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma Foundation offers all members lifetime enrichment through educational growth, personal development, and opportunities for philanthropic service in the highest of social responsibility. Delta Lambda Chapter at Mississippi State University has had many of these opportunities to show not only locally, but also nationally, the idea for service that Delta Gamma's hold so high. In May 2009, we gave the Delta Gamma Foundation that year's third largest gift from any collegiate chapter in the amount of $35,000. This money was raised from Anchor Week, the members selling Jubilations Cheesecakes and Milk & Cookies. In addition to sponsoring Anchor Week, a week-long event involving several other Greek organizations designed to raise money for Service for Sight, Delta Gamma is also involved yearly in several other charity events sponsored by other fraternities and sororities. These lectures are free of charge to the public. Delta Gamma is enriching the lives of people by providing these speakers who speak on a variety of subjects aimed at values and ethics. We also spend many enjoyable hours every semester doing work for the blind. Some of these activities include: taking time to go to surrounding elementary schools and performing eye tests, helping MSU student support services by reading for visually impaired MSU students, and recording books on tape. As DGs, we feel that we ourselves are rewarded by helping others. We love our philanthropy because we see immediate results that let us know we really can make a difference in someone’s life.
Phi Mu
Phi Mu is extremely involved in philanthropy and is very passionate about volunteering within the community and nation. Its national philanthropy is Children’s Miracle Network, and the Kappa Alpha chapter of Phi Mu proudly supports LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center as its primary Children’s Miracle Network hospital. LeBonheur is located in Memphis, Tennessee and opened its doors in 1952. The hospital’s service area includes Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Alabama. It serves more than 130,000 children throughout the region. In order to support LeBonheur, Phi Mu hosts numerous fundraisers throughout the year. The most well known fundraiser is the annual Phi Mu BBQ & Blues. BBQ & Blues is held during Super Bulldog Weekend and is a fundraiser dinner with live music. On average the dinner raises close to $20,000 for LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center and Children;s Miracle Network. In addition to BBQ & Blues Phi Mu also has sold Cooking for Children’s Miracle Network Cookbooks which are currently on sale. So far in 2010, Phi Mu has been able to raise over $26,000 for Children’s Miracle Network and LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center. In addition to supporting Children’s Miracle Network and LeBonheur, Phi Mu also supports other organizations throughout the Starkville community, including philanthropic events for other Greek organizations. The ladies of Phi Mu have volunteered at assisted living facilities, tutored children at local schools, collected items for the humane society, helped build houses through Habitat for Humanity, and have also sponsored a child in Kenya. Phi Mu’s strive daily to uphold the values stated in their creed and “ to lend those less fortunate a helping hand”.