I wanted to write this post to tell everyone about my experience at Convention last week in Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City is a beautiful place! I really enjoyed visiting this city. Temple Square and all of the buildings within it were beautiful, City Creek Mall was unique, and the Family Search Family History Library was educational! I was able to trace my family line back to 1797.
Caroline, Jessica B., and I had a great time at Convention, but it was not all fun and games. We learned a lot about our sorority on a national level and how to lead our sisters on a local level. This experience has prepared us for the coming year in many ways, and we cannot wait to share what we learned with the EB at our EB Retreat and with all of our active sisters at Fall Retreat!
Throughout Convention, Caroline and I attended several workshops. These included workshops on parliamentary procedure, communication, preserving OPA’s history, planning meaningful service projects, constitution clean up, and songs. We learned some awesome new OPA songs that we cannot wait to share with our other sisters!
The first thing on our business agenda at Convention was the National EB’s review of OPhiA Vision 2015 plan for Year 2. One of the bigger projects involved in the Vision plan is to employ a person to design and create a national database to better organize all OPhiA information. There is also a new OPhiA website in progress as we work to rebrand our image and recruit new members. There is work to raise money for our sorority on a national level as the NEB has piloted a Chapter Booster Club at three different chapters, and plans to expand the program soon. In the near future, OPhiA nationals will be sending letters to active sisters’ parents encouraging them to donate to the sorority of their assets and abilities as they see fit. The VP of Advancement Planning, Pamela McEwen is staring a donation program called “Friends of OPhiA.” Through this program, sisters make an annual donation of $5 to support member services, chapter support, sorority publications, and OPA’s leadership programs. Your gift will help OPA to grow and develop their programs and services. For more information on this program, please contact Pamela McEwen at advance@omegaphialpha.org
Then, we voted on the amendments to our national constitution. The first amendment, attempting to change the name of our active pin to “lifetime member badge,” failed. The active pin will still be referred to as an active pin. The second amendment, which passed, refers to our alcohol and illegal drug policy. This section states that there shall be no use, possession, or distribution of alcohol or illegal drugs of any kind at an OPA event. It goes on to define an OPA event as an event, project, meeting, or gathering that has been officially coordinated, sponsored, or promoted by any member of the sorority as part of sorority activities. An OPA event is also defined as any outing, meeting, or gathering that is discussed or planned at another OPA project, meeting, or gathering or through official means of sorority communication including sorority email or social media groups. The next amendment, which also passed, outlines the repercussions to a violation of our alcohol and illegal drug policy.
The rest of the constitutional amendments also passed, but they were not as exciting as they did not cause such heated debate as the first amendments did. They were mostly formalities moving various issues to the decision of the National Standards Board. Then, we passed a substantive proposal regarding the NEB’s Convention Registration Fees stating that the sorority will cover the Convention registration fee for all NEB members who complete at least 75% of their monthly reports and online voting as well as attend 75% of convention activities. Finally, we passed an Omega Phi Alpha Privacy Policy.
Next up we held elections for positions on the NEB. Megan Johnston, our District 3 TLC, was elected VP of Membership, Aly Inglish for VP of Business Operations, and Heather Pritchard, a Nu chapter alumna from Georgia Tech, for President Elect.
We participated in an awesome service project with TreeUtah to clean up a community garden in Salt Lake City.
At the end of business, the location for Convention 2013 was announced…. Pittsburgh!
The last event of Convention was Banquet where our chapter received numerous awards! Every 2011-2012 Alpha Zeta EB officer won the Outstanding Officer award. Then, Alpha Zeta won the Chapter Development Award as well as the Chapter Excellence Program Gold Seal for the fifth year in a row! An incredible eighteen sisters won awards for Individual Achievement in Service, and we had three sisters in the top ten for Individual Achievement in Service- Thi Nguyen, Jessica Bowron, and me, Teigan McIntosh! What a huge honor!
Convention 2012 was a great success, and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to represent our Alpha Zeta chapter. I know that Caroline and Jessica feel the same way. I am excited to share all of this new information with you, and I cannot wait for all of the great things that I know we will accomplish this semester.
I wrote this and submitted it to our secretary for Omega Phi Alpha’s national publication, the Chevron, but I also wanted to post it on here since I have yet to post a final reflection on Relay for Life. I am SO incredibly proud of my sisters and all of the hard work that they put in for this event.
I have always been involved in White County’s Relay for Life. At home, Relay is THE event of the year; everyone in the county is there with their whole family! It is amazing to see how many people have been affected by cancer and the hope, love, and perseverance that they bring to this great event. I was happy for Omega Phi Alpha to get involved with Kennesaw State University’s first ever Relay, and I know that the event can only get bigger from here! This is truly the beginning of a new tradition for Alpha Zeta.
Chevron Chapter Spotlight Questionnaire
Name of person filling out this questionnaire: Teigan McIntosh (Zeta pledge class)
Position currently held, if any: 2011-2012 Marketing Director, 2012-2013 President
Location/School: Alpha Zeta chapter at Kennesaw State University
Date project took place: Friday, April 13th @ 7:00 pm – Saturday, April 14th @ 7:00 am
Name of Event: Kennesaw State University’s first ever Relay for Life
As our chapter’s Relay for Life team captain, I started planning for “the big night” months in advance! After all, this was our first Relay for Life event, as well as Kennesaw State University’s, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Luckily, my Omega Phi Alpha sister, Lauren Bigler (Zeta pledge class), was interning at the American Cancer Society under Giana Humphrey, a Relay for Life College Events Manager for the ACS. Lauren and Giana were able to answer all of my questions and help me prepare our OPA team. Leading up to the event, we volunteered at a “kick-off” night to let the KSU campus know about Relay as well as a fundraising “Pajama Blitz” party. As a team, we held a yard sale which raised $630! We couldn’t have done it without Caitlin Amick (Zeta pledge class) and her parents’ generous donations.
Our team consisted of 54 sisters including Alpha Zeta alumnae Kayla Coe (Delta pledge class), Jillian Farley (Beta pledge class), Erica Fey (Beta pledge class), Kara Frost (Delta pledge class). Many other sisters showed their support as well. Once we decided on a carnival theme for our table and tent at Relay, I started searching for businesses, vendors, family, and friends who were willing to donate to our onsite fundraiser for the night of Relay. Parker York (Eta pledge class) and her aunt, Alicia Turner, graciously donated a popcorn popper as well as supplies. Allie Plott (Eta pledge class), a Publix at Orchard Square employee, made and donated 300 cupcakes for us to sell. Jillian Farley brought us two dozen custom cookies that her mom made. (Check out her website:http://cookiechicconnection.blogspot.com/)
We were so lucky to have these great connections, and the fact that most of our supplies were donated meant that we were able to raise more money for the American Cancer Society. Out of 32 teams, our Omega Phi Alpha team came in 2nd place for fundraising right behind the KSU Relay Committee team. As of May 4th, our team’s total amount raised for the ACS is $3,984 and KSU’s total amount is $30,507! (www.ksurelay.org) I am so proud of my sisters and all of the hard work that they put in to raise funds for the American Cancer Society!
While this was one of our major service projects for the spring semester, I also consider it a sisterhood event because of the wonderful bonding time that we spent on the campus Green. Personally, I was on campus for Relay for seventeen hours straight from set-up to clean-up, and there were several sisters who accompanied me throughout the entirety of the event. Throughout the night, we bonded as we worked at our table, walked around the track, played games such as corn hole, and simply hung out together as we enjoyed the great music and entertainment. There was even a memorable 5:00 am dance and workout session led by ChristaBeth Vaughn (Zeta pledge class).
Relay for Life was my favorite projects of the semester, and it is definitely one of the most memorable events because of all the hard work that went into it as well as our great success as a team! I am so proud of my sisters, and I think that this project will become one of our traditions. Almost everyone has been touched by cancer in some way, some closer than others, and this is a great project presents a great opportunity for everyone to get involved. I recommend that other OPA chapters get involved in their local or college Relay for Life so that we can get closer to a world without cancer!
Group Photo: Description: Our team on the Campus Green in front of our on-site fundraising tent and table. Back Row (left to right): Caitlin A., Jessica B., Ray C., Emma A., Katelynn S., Lauren F., Julie S., Autumn G., Jillian F., Erica F., Amy P., Robyn B., April G. Middle Row (left to right): Lauren P., Allie P., Stephanie O., Allie D., Caroline A., Tiffany P., Tara B., Jessica P., Taylor B., Angelica D., Angelica B., Parker Y., Priscilla R., Jenna B., Brittany K., Caroline C., Christine H., Emily A., Jennifer B., Lily W.. Front Row (left to right): Candice W., Lauren J., Sharon K., Thi N., Teigan McIntosh
Banner Photo: Description= Our team lap to kick off the night. Front Row (holding banner, left to right): Emily A., Katelynn S., Caroline C.. Second Row: Candice W., Jenna B. Third Row: Tegan Y., Jillian F., Erica F.
The first ever Kennesaw State University Relay for Life is right around the corner!!! (Friday, April 13th @ 7:00 pm – Saturday, April 14th @ 7:00 am) All together, we have already raised $19,327 for the American Cancer Society!!!!! I can’t believe it- we have already gotten so close to our $20,000 goal. 🙂
Omega Phi Alpha’s team is definitely doing their part- our team has raised $3,298 so far!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO proud of all of my sisters and the time and effort that they have already put in for this great cause. I absolutely can’t wait for the night of the event, and it is not that far away! KSU Relay for Life is THIS Friday, April 13th @ 7:00 pm on the Green on KSU’s campus.
As Omega Phi Alpha’s team captain, I have been working toward Relay for months now- there is so much to do! First, we had to vote on Relay as an official service project for the semester and work with our Service Director to decide how service hours would be earned. There are tons of opportunities for girls to earn credit for this project! Registering online at ksurelay.org and donating $10 is one hour, and each $10 increment raised on their personal fundraising page past that original $10 is one hour toward their personal hours (not our minimum required 25 hours per semester for active status). Hours could also be earned by donating other various items like signs, decorations, drinks, etc. Then, there are lots of hands-on hours to be earned! If girls registered before March 15th, they have the opportunity to earn hour-for-hour up to 12 hours. If they register between March 16th and the day of the event, they can get hour-for-hour up to 6 hours. If they do not register, they can come to the event and earn hour-for-hour with a max of 2 hours. More girls than I expected signed up for the entire 12 hours, and I am very excited to spend the entire night with them! Some of us- definitely me- will be there for MUCH longer than that as set-up for the event begins at 3:00 pm on Friday, and I will probably have to stay later on Saturday morning to clean up.
We also held a yard sale to raise money for Relay that make $630!! Yes, you read that correctly- $630!! 🙂 (Girls could receive service hours for their donations to this project.) While we received lots of great donations from sisters, the yard sale would not have been the great success that it was without the generous help and donations from Caitlin’s parents. The yard sale was at their house, they donated most of the things that we sold at the yard sale, and they were an amazing help donating their time and talents to this great cause! Thank you so much, Mr. and Mrs. Amick! 🙂
In the past couple of weeks, I have been working on getting donations for our on-site fundraiser. We have a popcorn machine and supplies from Parker’s aunt, cupcakes from the Publix bakery where Allie works, and cookies from Jillian’s mom at Cookie Chic. These are going to match our carnival theme, and they are going to be amazing!! Here is a preview:
So, getting everything finished for Relay is this week is going to be very busy! I still have to make some signs (Caroline is going to help me in TRAC on Tuesday morning), attend Bank Night on Tuesday night to turn in our team’s final money, pick up participant t-shirts for our team members who raised at least $100, and choose our campsite on the Green. I also need to purchase bags for our popcorn and face paint this week. Oh, and finalize everyone’s schedule- I have a huge spreadsheet with everyone’s task assignment color coded, individual time assignments to hand out to sisters at the event, and sign-in sheets for each station. I want everything to be as organized as possible so that things run smoothly at the event.
I will be back with more Relay info as soon as I can update.
Let the Spring service begin!!
Our first service project this semester was Furkids. As stated on their website, “Furkids is a 501(c)3, charitable, non-profit organization that provides a cage-free, no-kill shelter for rescued animals where they can experience the best care in a loving environment until they are adopted. Each year we rescue, shelter, sterilize, rehabilitate, and place hundreds of animals in permanent, loving homes.” My group and I volunteered at the house specifically for FIV+ cats. The nine of us along with a group of volunteers from Alpha Phi Omega from Oglethorpe University deep cleaned the whole house! We swept, mopped, vaccumed, cleaned the food bowls, water bowls, litter boxes- tons of litter boxes- and played with the cats. We all had a great time! You can even find us on the Furkids February blog. 🙂 Thanks, Furkids!!
There was also another group of Omega Phi Alpha girls that volunteered at the main shelter. I am not really sure what all they did because I wasn’t in that group, but here is a picture of them:
So, I know that it has been forever since I posted to my blog, but I really want to keep this blog going! I have actually been writing posts in my head, I just haven’t made the time to sit down and write them… This will be my post to catch up on everything, and then I will try to stay up to date on everything that we do in Omega Phi Alpha. This sorority is so important to me, and I want to share my love with the world! 🙂
The last time that I posted, I was getting ready for Spring retreat. Now that retreat has come and gone, I would like to announce that my ammendment passed! After much debate and long discussion, we decided to ammend my original ammendment from 30 service hours per semester to 25 hours. The Alpha Zeta chapter of Omega Phi Alpha now requires 25 service hours!! I am incredible happy, and I think that we are headed in the right direction. We have so many amazing service projects lined up this semester, that I am sure girls will get way more than 25 service hours. After they see how easy and fun it really is, maybe they will be in support of raising it again. I am thinking of ammending again at Fall retreat, but we will see how this semester turns out first….
I also proposed that we include our local history in the information that is taught to new pledges, and this procedure change also passed!! I am very excited about this as well, because I feel that it is very important to keep the knowledge of our chapter alive. Now that we are growing, integrating the information into the things that are presented to the pledges each year will make sure that it is passed along down our family trees. During the voting, we decided that the membership director/pledge mom would decide how to incorporate the information for her pledges. 🙂 I have not started compiling the information yet, but I will have it done by the end of this semester (or the end of summer at the latest) so that we can approve it as a chapter before it is presented to our new pledge class in the fall.
At Spring Retreat this year, I am going to propose an amendment to our local constitution. This is the same amendment that has been proposed in the past, most recently by Jessica F. last year, so I asked her if she could help me with it. Here is my amendment:
“Amendment
Currently Reads
Article V. Membership
Section 1) A. Requirements
e. Participate in 20 hours of service per semester. These hours shall be earned through planned chapter service projects. It is required that a sister attends in a minimum of three service projects. Participation in an event shall include any or all of the following: project planning, project publicity, project attendance, post-project work, and contribution of necessary items to conduct the project. Service hours can not be used for reasons outside of Omega Phi Alpha until the required minimum hours have been met. Once the required hours have been met any hours exceeding the minimum required hours can be used for non- OPA reasons and will not be included in total OPA hours.
Clause 1. Full hour credit for physically involved service projects will be awarded at the discretion of the Service Director and a second Executive Board member. To earn full credit a sister must not only be physically present at the project, she must also be actively involved. In the event of the service director’s absence, she shall appoint two (2) sisters from the service committee to serve in her stead, one of whom (if possible) should be another officer (EB, CSB, etc.). Any extenuating circumstance causing a sister to not be physically able to fully participate (injury, illness, etc.) must be discussed with the Service Director prior to arrival at the project.
a. The sister can request a meeting with the CSB to discuss docked hours based on the decision of the service director and second executive board member.
Clause 2. If a sister votes “Yes” to a service project, the sister is obligated to actively participate. She will be allowed one fault per semester, after which she will be called to CSB.
Change to Read
Article V. Membership
Section 1) A. Requirements
e. Participate in 30 hours of service per semester. These hours shall be earned through planned chapter service projects. It is required that a sister attends in a minimum of three service projects. Participation in an event shall include any or all of the following: project planning, project publicity, project attendance, post-project work, and contribution of necessary items to conduct the project. Service hours can not be used for reasons outside of Omega Phi Alpha until the required minimum hours have been met. Once the required hours have been met any hours exceeding the minimum required hours can be used for non- OPA reasons and will not be included in total OPA hours.
Clause 1. Full hour credit for physically involved service projects will be awarded at the discretion of the Service Director and a second Executive Board member. To earn full credit a sister must not only be physically present at the project, she must also be actively involved. In the event of the service director’s absence, she shall appoint two (2) sisters from the service committee to serve in her stead, one of whom (if possible) should be another officer (EB, CSB, etc.). Any extenuating circumstance causing a sister to not be physically able to fully participate (injury, illness, etc.) must be discussed with the Service Director prior to arrival at the project.
a. The sister can request a meeting with the CSB to discuss docked hours based on the decision of the service director and second executive board member.
Clause 2. If a sister votes “Yes” to a service project, the sister is obligated to actively participate. She will be allowed one fault per semester, after which she will be called to CSB.
Rationale: This amendment is based on actual research that I collected from last semester. On average, each sister completed 34.7 hours of service. 91% of active sisters met the proposed requirement or were within 5 hours of reaching 30. 69% completed 30 service hours or more, and 48% completed 35 hours or more. Most of us are already meeting the 30 hour mark, and by increasing our minimum requirement, we will be showing the world our great work. Alpha Zeta is one of the chapters that requires the smallest amount of hours; most chapters of Omega Phi Alpha already require 30. Social sororities, such as Delta Phi Epsilon, require 15 hours, and Human Services majors are required to complete 20 hours. We are a service sorority!!! Let’s reflect our passion in our requirements.
Author: Teigan McIntosh”
As you can see in my rationale, most of us are already completing 30 hours of service! Personally, I take a full load of classes, I work two jobs, I have a life outside of Omega Phi Alpha, and I still complete all of my requirements. For the past two semesters, I have completed more than 30 hours of service, and it has not been hard. Because of the nature of many of our service projects, I am able to complete more than enough service hours. For example, longer projects such as Boo at the Zoo and Light the Night allow sisters to acquire multiple hours at a time. All sisters should be able to complete at least 30 hours per semester. I think that this is a very reasonable number. After all, we are a SERVICE sorority! I am not proposing this amendment or pointing any of this out because I think anyone individually has done anything wrong, I just think that as an organization, we should step it up especially since most other chapters already require 30 hours. It is time for us to increase our minimum requirements!!
Also, after working on the archiving OPA project this year, I would like to propose that we include information from the local history of the Alpha Zeta chapter in the pledge quizzes. I believe that it is important for the sisters to know their local history. Here is the email that I sent to our president, Tegan, asking her what she thinks about this idea:
“Hi, Tegan.
-Teigan”
The end of the semester…
Just because the semester is ending, does not mean that our service has to! Most or all of the service that we do as sisters of Omega Phi Alpha is completed through group service projects, but this is a reminder that that does not have to be the case. I am going to try to make an effort to do more service on my own, and I would like to encourage everyone else to do the same. Here is a quick list of things you can do over the break from The HandsOn Blog:
- Make artwork for a local senior center or retirement home—they will love the colorful wall decorations!
- Organize a canned food drive at home, school, neighborhood, or place of worship. Donate your collected canned goods to a local food bank or shelter.
- Donate unwanted stuffed animals to a local shelter— there are many children who would love to have an animal to snuggle with this holiday season!
- Donate your family’s holiday party leftovers to a local shelter or soup kitchen
- Gather your old clothes and shoes to donate to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or other donation center.
- Play board games at a senior center.
- Donate your old books to your local library— there are kids dying to read your books!
- Donate your old backpack there is a child who would love to have a new friend to carry their school work in!
- Have a hot chocolate and cookie stand in your neighborhood and donate the money to your favorite cause.
- Hold a toy drive for kids in a shelter or hospital.
- Take a bag of dog or cat food to your local animal shelter.
- Pick up trash in your local park or neighborhood.
- Grow a community garden.
- Start a recycling program in your community if there is not one already.
- Plant a tree.
And the end of the Etas pledge period!!
This Saturday, December 3rd, the members of the Eta pledge class will become active sisters of Omega Phi Alpha- it is activation! I am so excited for all of the Etas, especially my littles, Mei Mei and Jennifer. They have worked so hard, and this is well earned for them. I am also excited for my big and grand-big to attend activation, and for my first activation as an active. I wish that I could say more, but it is a secret ceremony, and I can’t release any details! The Etas will just have to wait to see what we have in store for them. 🙂
Ok, I admit it….. I was channeling this song when titling this post. It is stuck in my head!
But that has nothing to do with what I am trying to talk about!! 🙂
For this year’s national president’s project, we are “Archiving OPA.” I am in the “traditions” group and, among other topics, we are working on “families.” (Hopefully now you understand where the title and the song come in… If not, it is really not important, and you are probably even better off that way!) Although this is a little outdated, here is a link to a page about our families.
So, for this project, I collected some information from my grand-big, Liz, a founding mother. Here is what she told me….
How Our Families Began
By: Teigan McIntosh, Zeta Class
Information collected from her Grand-big: Liz New, Founding Mother
The Alpha Zeta chapter of Omega Phi Alpha at Kennesaw State Univerisyt decided to create their families at the suggestion of the sisters from Nu Chapter at Georgia Tech who were instrumental in the founding of the Alpha Zeta chapter. Among them were Heather Pritchard, Amanda Harris, Chelsea Morrisey Navo, and Megan Sheppard, as well as the VP of Expansion at the time, Ginger McGarity. They thought it would be a good way for the Alpha Zeta chapter to trace their members back through the chapter as it grew and got older as well as create a tradition for the new chapter to uphold.
During August 2006, a few weeks after the colonization retreat but before the Alphas’ rush, the founding mothers formed the families at one of their chapter meetings held in the old social science building. (The families were first presented at the Alpha’s rush.) They decided that five families would be a good idea, so they wrote down all their names on slips of paper and put them into a plastic bowl. Then, they drew them out and sorted them into five piles. The matriarch for each family was decided based on which sister was closest to graduation. (Now, the matriarch of each family is determined by oldest pledge class and then graduation date, but, in the beginning, at that time we were all in the same class.
The five founding matriarchs were: Lambda – Kelly Cantrell; Chi – Allison Carder McKay; Tau – Janice Turner Perea; Gamma – Brandi Gilbert; Kappa – Annie Smith.
Tau was for Turner, Gamma was for Gilbert, and, if Liz New remembers correctly, Chi was for Carder. The rest of the families discussed the letters that they wanted and decided on something together. Again, if Liz New remembers correctly, the Lambda family traded the letter Kappa to the Kappa family because the Kappa family wanted it and the Lambdas didn’t. From there, each family brainstormed collectively and came up with our own mascots, flowers, and colors that night. Liz, a Lambda, remembers that the members of her family definitely wanted the Lambda’s to be unique, so they chose lavender and teal as their colors.
The family mascots, colors, and flowers are as follows:
- Lambda – Colors: lavender and teal; Mascot: giraffe; Flower: purple tulip
- Chi – Colors: purple and gold; Mascot: dinosaur; Flower: purple orchid
- Tau- Colors: light pink and brown; Mascot: turtle; Flower: calla lilly
- Gamma- Colors: hot pink and lime green; Mascot: teddy bear; Flower: pink gerber daisy
- Kappa- Colors: yellow and green; Mascot: Kangaroo; Flower: sunflower
So far this semester, all (or lets say 99%, in case I’m forgetting something…) of the service projects that I have participated in have been hands on! I LOVE hands on projects, because it is so much more meaningful when you get to meet and interact with the people that you are helping. However, we also do donation projects which are equally great. 🙂 Almost everything was due at the end of the semester, so it is all falling into this one, lump post that I am calling “Donation Projects.”
First, we made Soldier Care packages. There are several organizations that send packages, such as HeroBox, Operation Gratitude, and Operation Shoebox just to name a few. Soldier Care Packages is a project that we do almost every semester. It is a great way to help our service men and women, and because we send the packages to other countries, the project qualifies for our “nations of the world” service area. I donated items, and I helped to package them. Here are the items that we collected:
- We receive the going rate for aluminum, which changes as the demand changes – varying from rates of 23 to 52 cents per pound on any given period.
- We average about 450 pounds every 10 days, or approximately $234.
- Every penny helps families stay at the House — $10 pays for one family for one night!
Our third donation project was collecting school items to donate to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Through their Kids in Need program, teachers are able to receive free, brand new school supplies to use in their classrooms! Here is some information from their website about the project:
“Every year, Kids In Need is proud to distribute hundreds of thousands of pounds of brand new school supplies to teachers in low-income schools. For a school to qualify, at least 80% of the students must be enrolled in the federal free and reduced lunch program. There is absolutely no cost to teachers or schools. The Kids In Need facility is reminiscent of a retail store and is continuously stocked with brand new school and art supplies for grade levels Pre-K through 12.
We currently serve elementary, middle and high schools in Atlanta Public, Clayton County, Cobb County, DeKalb County, Douglas County, Fulton County, Gainesville, Gwinnett County, Hall County, Henry County, Marietta City, and Spalding County school systems.”
Lastly, we collected toys for sponsoring children for Christmas. We all brought in toys, and they will be distributed in families in need so that they will be able to have a happy Christmas morning with toys to unwrap and play with. I donated a Candyland game and chess. There are several foundations that organize families for sponsorship, such as the Salvation Army‘s Adopt-a-Family, World Vision‘s Sponsoring a Child (worldwide), Save the Children, and Toys for Tots.
As a follow-up to Light the Night, I received the nicest thank you note from Stacy! I couldn’t begin to paraphrase it, and I figured that by typing it, the words would lose some of their authenticity, so here is a scanned copy of the note…
Maybe it was an emotional day for me, but this note had me in tears. Thank you, Stacy!! Receiving this note from you really meant a lot to me, and I know that the other people you sent thank you notes to felt the same way that I did when I found it in my mailbox.
Light the Night is truly an Omega Phi Alpha memory that I will treasure always. “Why?” you might ask, “Wasn’t it just a walk?” Well, yes… It was “just” a walk, but it was SO much more than that. I loved meeting your family, especially your mom, and I was so happy that they were all able to attend this service project. The personal connection really made the project special to me, making it one of my favorites. Also, the amount of people involved and the amount of money raised by all of the teams is simply astonishing. This was in the email sent by Light the Night on November 10th:
Thanks to you we have raised over $1.2 million for blood cancer research and patient services!
Also, I am excited to do this project again next year and the next and make it an Alpha Zeta tradition! 🙂
Nothin' Sweeter than ΩΦΑ 