Sororities planning philanthropy events: Delta Phi Omega & Delta Delta Delta
Posted November 17th, 2011 by Mike
[The Daily Barometer] Sororities planning philanthropy events to benefit literacy, children’s hospital. Presidents of Delta Delta Delta, Delta Phi Omega explain community outreach projects
Oregon State Univeristy Greek houses are making efforts to give back to the community. The Daily Barometer’s Tony Santilli sat down with two chapter presidents, Kristin O’Leary of Delta Delta Delta and Martha Ngo of Delta Phi Omega, to speak with them about their philanthropic plans.
Delta Delta Delta is having a pancake breakfast fundraiser this Sunday in the Memorial Union ballroom from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Admission and all-you-can-eat breakfast will cost $7, and the funds will go to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
Q: Is there a correlation between OSU’s Dad’s weekend and your fundraiser?
A: Yes, because we are encouraging everybody to bring their dads. We are putting on a pancake breakfast for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and all Tri Delta sororities nationally fundraise for St. Jude’s Research Hospital; we have a goal to raise $15 million in five years. We decided instead of having a big Greek pageant or an all-Greek event, we wanted to open it up to the community because St. Jude is such a good cause and everyone should have the opportunity help them.
Q: How will Tri Delta be making the pancake breakfast more successful than years before?
A: We have been trying to tweak it to be something different and we usually just hold the event in our house, but it didn’t get a lot of publicity. I know the Greek system can be sort of exclusive and if you’re not in a fraternity/sorority you might not feel comfortable coming to a sorority house for breakfast, so we really wanted to have a bigger event raising money for St. Jude. Last year, we were able to raise just under $30,000 for St .Jude.
Q: Why is Tri Delta putting on this event?
A: We are putting this event on because we all really care about the children at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. We want the OSU community to feel involved with the Greek community and we want it to be less exclusive so that everyone can help. Our fundraiser shows hard efforts that sororities and all other Greek houses put into their philanthropy. I personally have put in around 45 hours the past term just for this event. I got all the food donated; I didn’t have to pay for any of the food. We have about 117 girls in the house, and the goal of our sorority is to build a perpetual bond of friendship, but more than that, we like to be involved and help the community.
Delta Phi Omega is a relatively new multicultural sorority, led by Ngo. Their fundraiser, Literacy through Unity Week, will fundraise for CARE, which helps low-income women in rural areas. The event will will be held Feb. 3-9.
Q: What are some struggles with having a smaller and newer sorority when trying to promote a cause?
A: We have been established here for almost six years and there are currently 40 girls in our sorority, but active is nine, so we’re pretty small. For the Greek Life part, we deal with the stereotypes of being in a sorority and that we party, etc., so for us to hold community service, it brings a good light to Greeks at OSU and OSU itself. We don’t get acknowledgement very much because we are quiet, but with events like these, we really get our name out there and people get to know us more on a personal level if they show up to events.
Q: What will be taking place during Delta Phi Omega’s Week of Literacy through Unity?
A: Our goal is to build awareness of children’s literacy in education for this fundraiser, which ties into our philanthropy because we help educate the girls in those areas, and we are really big on the education part for children. There will be a dry kickoff party Feb. 3. We are currently working on the kinks of the whole week, but there is going to be a date night auction and a field day, which will be at McAlexendar Field House; tentatively Feb. 6. There will also be volunteer work with local preschools.
Q: What do you want people to know about your sorority and your awareness week?
A: We are a multicultural sorority so we encompass everyone’s background, so we are a little bit different and we’re un-housed. We just recently received our chapter status last January. I think that attendance is a big help and [so is] showing up to hang out with us or learn more about the struggles of children and education around the world. We accept donations of every kind, such as monetary donations or even helping out with supplies, but we really just want to see people.
As exemplified by Tri Delta and Delta Phi Omega, OSU Greek Life is aiming for a higher level of community outreach.
Tony Santilli, staff reporter
737-2231 news@dailybarometer.com