Brown County's Psi Iota Xi

Front: L-R: Marie Mooney, Sue Cody, Sherri Brown, Lisa Shaner, Pam Bond, Jane Huffman, Donna Tackett, Amy Oliver. Back: L-R: Kari Albertson, Sheena Brown Myers, Jenny Bowden, Audrey Evans, Rachel Voils,Stephanie Dean,Jenny Austin, Allison O’Shea, Jill Wray, Karen Scott, Benita Fox. courtesy photo

~by Amy Huffman Oliver

Most folks who have been in Brown County for a while probably remember the Log Cabin Tour, a self-guided driving tour visiting beautiful log cabin homes.

Others might remember sitting on Santa’s lap at the Santa House in the 1970s.

Even more people count on ordering their spring bedding plants from someone who calls herself a “Psi Ote” knowing part of their purchase will go back into the community.

For the past 58 years, the women of the Brown County chapter of Psi Iota Xi have been working to host events that provide thousands of dollars to the Brown County community. Their focus is to fund projects involving speech and hearing, art, music, and literacy.

In 1966, 22 Brown County women founded Eta Alpha chapter of Psi Iota Xi as part of a national philanthropic sorority whose mission, according to its website, is to foster “personal growth by enriching the lives of others through philanthropic enterprises.”

Tammy Galm joined Psi Otes in 1970. Her earliest memories are of working at the Corner Closet, a thrift store the group operated from the back of the Village Green Building from 1968 to 1977.

Fundraisers over the Years

From 1973-1982, Psi Ote members dressed as Santa’s elves and transformed homes into the Santa House each Christmas.

From 1991-2008, Psi Otes sponsored a popular Fifties and Sixties Dance where costumes of the era were encouraged.

More recently, from 2014-2017, the group sponsored a Komedy Spelling Bea and Chili Cook-Off which brought the community together for cooking, fundraising, and laughter during the dreary month of January.

A reliable source of fundraising for all 58 years has been selling flowers for Brown County gardens. This year the group sold over $12,000 in spring flowers to be delivered the first week of May.

It was the Log Cabin Tour that made Psi Otes wellknown in the community and where the group had the most success in fundraising. The first tour in 1974 included eight homes for a two-dollar donation. Over the 36 years that the group put on the tour, about 200 homeowners opened their homes allowing as many as 2,000 visitors per weekend to see what log cabin life is like in the hills o’ Brown.

Contributions to Community

Recently, Brown County Psi Otes have averaged donations to the local community of over $9,000 each year, according to Psi Ote Treasurer Jill Wray. “In addition to donations to groups like Interact, BETA, and the Brown County Playhouse, we’ve also been able to sponsor $5,600 per year for college scholarships to Brown County High School seniors.”

Mary Kilgore has been an active Psi Ote member for over 30 years. She feels that the most significant contribution the group makes is to music and drama programs at Brown County Schools. In 1991, Kilgore helped start the Fifties and Sixties Dance to raise funds to purchase a grand piano, and, later, acoustical tiles, for the newly built high school auditorium. Other contributions to Brown County Schools performing arts include band uniforms, musical instruments, and student tickets to the Bloomington and Indianapolis Symphonies.

“Research has shown that skills taught and reinforced via the arts are crucial to language, reading comprehension, and math skills,” according to Kilgore. “Our support of the performing arts is crucial to children’s development.”

Preserving local art is an important part of the mission of Psi Otes. Its support to the Brown County Art Gallery, Brown County Art Guild, Hoosier Salon, and Indiana Heritage Arts is long-standing. In 1972, member Barbara Judd wrote and published “Brown County Art and Artists” to help preserve the history of the artist colony. In 1994, Psi Otes created plaques to permanently identify the homes of these Brown County artists.

In 1983, Psi Otes purchased a traveling exhibit of Frank Hohenberger prints to accompany the book If You Don’t Outdie Me. Those images were framed and are on display today at the lower level of the Brown County Public Library.

Psi Otes have long supported literacy in Brown County. The group donated dictionaries to every third and fourth grader for many years, funded the local Reading is Fundamental program, and donated thousands of dollars to purchase children’s books and supplies for Head Start, Kindergarten Round-Up and the Brown County Public Library children’s section.

Psi Otes helped establish the first speech and hearing specialist position at Brown County Schools and purchased the schools’ first audiometers. The chapter continues to provide financial assistance to families who need speech and hearing devices, therapy, or surgery for cochlear implants.

Psi Otes Today

Last year, the 25 active members of Psi Otes began supporting musical arts for an older population. Local musician Kara Barnard created the innovative Silver Strings program for just that purpose. Barnard and her team design and build specially adapted dulcimer instruments and picks so that nursing home residents can play them easily from a wheelchair. Barnard also writes the instructional book and shows staff how to teach the residents. Silver Strings is available throughout Indiana and Brown County’s chapter provided the funds for this program to be available locally. Their hope is that it will become a project for the state Psi Iota Xi organization, sharing a bit of Brown County’s musical legacy with others.

If you are interested in learning more about the Brown County Psi Iota Xi chapter, contact Amy Oliver huffmanoliver@gmail.com .