Altruistic Projects

Altruism

“Around the world, members combine their energies and talents to enrich their lives and the lives of others through thousands of heart-warming community based altruistic projects. Because of these projects, it is a brighter day…” ~Alpha Delta Kappa Handbook

AL Alpha Theta

Presenting a check for $200 from the AL Alpha Theta chapter to the Friends of the Library for the Cullman County Imagination Library are (L to R) Mary Ellen Pinion, Carla McKee, Sue Ann Patrick, Linda Creel, Barbara Guthrie, Tanya Allcorn, Josie Harrington, Stefani Nelson and Julie Freeman.

CO Alpha Delta

Members of CO Alpha Delta show some of the 43 children’s books the chapter purchased for Hope House Colorado, the Colorado state altruistic project. Hope House is a program “committed to empowering and transforming the lives of teen mothers for personal and economic self-sufficiency resulting in a healthy future for themselves and their children.” (L to R) Karen Chandler, Alpha Delta co-president, Golden Sister Jane Thorell and Sondra Broers, Alpha Delta co-president.

IL Lamda

The second grade students of Ashleigh Malisia call them Aunt Judy Books. This is their name for the books donated to the class in honor of Judy Addicks, long time member of IL Lambda and Ashleigh’s aunt. Judy entered Omega chapter in 2021. The sisters chose to remember her in this way because of her love of reading and celebrating life.

GA Beta Sigma

GA Beta Sigma provided financial and volunteer assistance for an event of the Gwinnett County Public School System Bookmobile at an elementary school. Students selected a book from the more than 700 books purchased by the chapter. The chapter donates to the GCPS Bookmobile in memory of sisters and loved ones of members. GCPS Bookmobile, the chapter’s altruistic project, provides free books for students and delivers food during the summer months.

MD Beta

MD Beta sisters display some of the many items their chapter donated for animal shelters in Montgomery and Howard counties. (L to R) Terry Melo (President), Kay Caviness, Joan Coker, Bernadette Kasunic, Barbara Richards, Ginny Singhaus, Annie Kozma and Melissa Richards, who headed up the effort.

Sisters Contribute

Sisters of Florida District 6, Bradenton Area, hear about the work of the Alzheimer’s Association. Chairmen Pam Helman and Pat Watkins of FL Beta Tau invited Lisa Kiddon, Development Manager of the FL Gulf Coast Chapter to speak at their district meeting. Over $1,000.00 was donated from the district to the Association that day.

MI Alpha

After hearing a speaker from Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, MI Alpha changed its traditional holiday celebration. The guest shared how much the residents of the home enjoyed the nightly reading of a chapter from a novel over the public address system. The speaker also mentioned that the facility’s library could use some help.

The sisters unanimously voted to contribute books to the library in place of the chapter’s traditional gift exchange. A member suggested that the home be asked for a wish list of appropriate novels for the library. The chapter donated nearly 100 books. Alpha intends to make the book donation an annual event.

It is the collective hope of the MI Alpha sisters that perhaps the books they donated “will indeed touch the heart and mind of at least one, if not more of the young people.”

KS Rho

KS Rho members show the 129 pounds of pop top tabs they collected for Ronald McDonald House Charities in Wichita, KS. RMHC uses the funds from recycling the tops to provide a comfortable and safe place for families from out of town to stay while their children are in the hospital. It takes 1,128 pop tops to make a pound.

Hawai’i A∆K Sends Words of Advice to New Teachers

In the spring of 2021, Hawai’i A∆K members participated in Project Kako’o (support and aid) sponsored by Nu and Xi chapters for University of Hawai‘i-Manoa College of Education teacher candidates by distributing pandemic “survival kits’’ of supplies and food items donated by HI A∆K members. This school year, the sisters asked for words of encouragement and advice as well as inspiring anecdotes from HI A∆K members statewide to create booklets which were included in packets of donated 3M teaching supplies to support future teachers. Thirty-plus contributors shared their thoughts, organized as Advice and Encouragement, Precious Teaching Memories, Links to Support and Uplift, HI A∆K Supports You. Members delivered 150 of these packets to student teachers on their school campuses, with 25 more distributed by their instructors.

Here are some of the notes from the student teacher beneficiaries of the Project Kako‘o booklets: “Mahalo for the care package from HI A∆K.” “I will keep this book on my shelf forever.” “You gave me a boost of energy.” “ I was surprised to find so many useful classroom tools, snacks and a booklet filled with words of wisdom and encouragement.” “I’m so happy to have such amazing people supporting me on my journey to become a teacher.” “I’m blessed to be part of such an amazing community of educators.”

HI A∆K chapters have since ordered more copies to give to teachers in the field to support them and to introduce them to Alpha Delta Kappa and the benefits of membership.

Altruism, continued.

NE Lambda

NE Lambda received a $250 grant and doubled the amount for use in the chapter’s Undercover Undies project. The funds were used to buy underwear and other needed clothing for elementary schools in Fremont, NE. The purpose of the project is to give needed help to students who have accidents in the classroom or get cold and wet on the playground during the winter. The schools requested items such as underwear, diapers, socks and sweatpants in an array of sizes. After shopping for the requested items, Lambda sisters delivered them to the school. They have received many notes of appreciation from the schools.

MD Chi

MD Chi sisters working with the Deer Creek Basketry Guild filled more than 60 “Helping Hands Totes.” The totes were delivered to member Jennifer Cox at Empower4Life. The totes were woven by sisters and members of the basket guild. Sisters Sharon Hoffman, Jackie Remige, Gerri Pendill and Fran Haslup worked to fill and deliver the first round of totes. Each tote contained toiletries, hand towels and purchased and hand knitted socks. Chi sisters brought toiletry items to their March meeting to fill another round of totes to support the programs at E4L, which serves multiple homeless shelters in Maryland’s Baltimore and Harford Counties.

NC Fidelis Kappa

Every spring and fall, sisters of NC Fidelis Kappa chapter have a good time preparing large, decorated “goodie boxes” filled with hundreds of sweet, salty, crunchy, hard and soft treats to honor faculty and staff of Cabarrus County or Kannapolis City schools. Members may choose an elementary, middle or high school as the recipient, but all levels are equally honored. “Fidelis Kappa sisters know the importance of recognizing educators for their timeless work and dedication to students,” said Mary Williams, chapter treasurer. “Fidelis Kappa members have been loyal and active A∆K sisters for a total of 458 years,” she added.

PA Pi

PA Pi recently completed an altruistic project called Baskets of Books. Members donated new and used books, markers, crayons, coloring books and journals. Collected at monthly meetings, over 500 items were given to HAVIN, a local domestic violence center that provides shelter and help to mothers and children in need.

Pi sisters also supported the local schools’ Blessings in a Backpack program which provides backpacks of food for the weekends for children in need. The chapter also awarded six monetary grants to active teachers, gave a college scholarship to a student majoring in education and adopted a garden by becoming a partner of the local community park association. All programs were funded by member donations and a Christmas wreath sale in November.

NJ Kappa

NJ Kappa members made sandwiches during a packing party for Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick, NJ. Working with the East Brunswick Hadassah, the sisters packed 50 brown bag lunches. Since 1989, Elijah’s Promise has “harnessed the power of food to break the cycle of poverty, alleviate hunger and change lives for the most vulnerable members of the Central New Jersey community.” NJ Kappa members have served as volunteers at the soup kitchen for several years and plan to continue their commitment to the mission of the program.

TN Chi

TN Chi has stayed busy with two annual altruistic projects. Sixteen sisters created 148 Valentine Goodie Bags for the Life Care Center of Red Bank and Brookdale Assisted Living in Chattanooga, TN. This is the second year for this project.

For four years, the chapter’s December project has been collecting donations and unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots. Last year, they raised $252 in donations and toys.

OH Epsilon

OH Epsilon sister Sandra Holway (center) holds the “Bags of Love” filled for students who may have food insufficiency at the elementary school where she teaches. Epsilon, with help from a Thrivent Financial Action Team project, donated over 800 food items. The bags are sent home on weekends. Standing with Sandra are the elementary school principal and a guidance counselor. NJ Epsilon sisters (L to R) Kathy Schulman, Leslie Ragucci, Barbara LaMort, Doris D’Elia and Rits Gerace show the trunk full of products the chapter collected when it participated in “AADC-Helping Women, PERIOD,” a service project of the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College. The project provides menstrual products to underserved women. The donations from Epsilon were given to the Elizabeth Coalition for the Homeless.

NM Lambda

NM Lambda members spent their November meeting collecting gift cards and making “No-Sew” blankets for Saranam, a local non-profit in Albuquerque, NM, that provides housing, education and community building, guiding families from homelessness to self-sufficiency.

NJ Alpha Zeta

Members of NJ Alpha Zeta chapter are pictured at the baby shower the chapter held to support Family Promise of Southern Ocean County and Birthright of Ocean County. Family Promise helps homeless and lowincome families achieve sustainable independence, and Birthright offers love, friendship and support to women with unplanned pregnancies. This chapter describes itself as small in numbers but huge in dedication and altruism.

Altruism, continued.

OH Psi Has a New Way to Fund Projects

OH Psi has found a new way to fund their various altruistic programs. For the past two years, the chapter has sponsored a program to display banners honoring someone who is active in or has served in the military. The chapter takes orders for 20” by 40” banners with photos and the names of the honorees. The banners are displayed on light poles throughout Fostoria, OH, between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. The cost of the banners is $150 for the first year with a renewal cost of $50. The chapter sold 88 banners in 2021. Since the sale began in February of this year, they have sold 150 more. Funds from this year’s sale will go to assisting students and teachers in many ways. The sisters have purchased mittens and hats for children, bought school supplies, donated to the “Shop With A Cop” program and donated to the “Christmas for Every Child” program through the YMCA. They also donated additional food from chapter dinners to families in need. Adding to the chapter’s altruistic work is a new instructional grant program. A classroom teacher and a guidance counselor were the first grant recipients. Tammy Helberg plans to use her grant to inspire her kindergarten students by researching types of birds found in the community and building bird houses. Her students will write about how they built the houses and will share their writing with their classmates.

Guidance Counselor Bethany Zambori-Sanford will use her grant to complete training and provide information to teachers on how to incorporate mindfulness activities into the classroom. She says these activities will help students regulate their emotions and “help them focus on their awareness of the present moment and tune into their minds and bodies.” She hopes to make it a school-wide program. The teachers submitted applications in January, describing the programs they wanted to begin and how the money would enable them to better meet the children’s needs and to instruct them on the different state standards.

TN Theta

Sisters of TN Theta brought 40 winter coats to help those in need stay warm during the winter months to their annual Christmas brunch and ornament exchange. Burlington Coat Factory received the donations and distributed them to nonprofit organizations in the Murfreesboro area. Theta members show their donations.

VA Beta Beta

VA Beta Beta sisters gather around guest speaker, Sgt. Shannon of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department. The chapter collected over 100 toys for the department. Sgt. Shannon, a former student of a chapter member, told the sisters that deputies keep toys in their cruisers to hand out to children.

WV Alpha Epsilon

For several years, sisters of the WV Alpha Epsilon chapter have donated packaged food items to the Concord University Food Pantry, a program initiated to address food insecurity. Concord is a local university that graduates many of the teachers and administrators in the Appalachian Chain of West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, the coal-mining region. The school allows students in its five bordering states, many of whom are first generation college students, to attend at in-state tuition rates. For most of these students, money is not plentiful and, by the time they pay their basic expenses, they have little left to buy food. So, several organizations, like the Lions Club and A∆K, regularly gather food items and bring them to the pantry, a room in the student center where the food is stored. At no cost, students in need may fill their backpacks with easy to prepare items that will keep them satisfied for a while.

In addition to supporting the food bank, Alpha Epsilon sisters donate to The Gap Fund at Concord, which offers small grants to undergraduate students who have high unmet financial needs or who find themselves in a financial situation that may lead to their dropping out of college.