From the  day  I signed up for rush at Florida State University I was the happiest and most nervous I have ever been in my entire life. I had just started my path to hopefully becoming a part of one of 17 amazing organizations that make up  FSU  Panhellenic. This community is one that I have wanted to become a part of since I was very young and since then I have patiently  watched  as  everyone els e has gone  away  to  college.  After all of those years of waiting, it was finally  my turn, walking into the  first  meeting  of rush I had no idea what to expect or how this entire process would work with over two thousand other girls.  Yet, when I got there it wasn’t like how I expected it to be at all everyone was so nice and so opened minded about the entire recruitment process. My main goal was to be as optimistic as possible while trying to find my "home" throughout the longest week of my life.  At the end of the week, I "ran home" to an incredible community of women whom I will be surrounded by for the next 4 years,  Delta Gamma. 

     As a Delta Gamma, one of the most important texts we have is Article 2, which we had to memorize soon after bid day was over.  This article within the Delta Gamma Constitution was one of the most important things to learn as a new member because it represents us and who we are as Delta Gammas. Since Delta Gamma is a Fraternity that has countless chapters across the nation, I decided to narrow down my research to the  philanthropic  work that I now have the opportunity to be a part of. Some of the opportunities that DG has provided me with are not only the philanthropic events that we hold annually, but also the option to participate in other sorority and fraternity’s events to raise awareness for their charity as well. Delta Gamma has been  such a blessing in my life  because  it has given me the opportunity to further my passion of helping others through  their  philanthropic  work.

     Through Delta Gamma, the women of the Gamma Mu chapter do such unbelievable philanthropy work which was something that I was looking for when choosing a  sorority  during rush week. After the glory of bid day, I was finally a new member  of Delta Gamma and I didn’t think that I could ever be any happier, but I was wrong. Not only do I get to represent DG while making new life-long friends, but I also get to raise money and awareness for such an important cause, Service for Sight. This philanthropy really  spoke to me during rush because ever since I was very little I have struggled with my  eyesight. It has always been very poor and has prevented me from ever having an accurate pair of glasses that I am truly able to see out of. When I saw the great work that Delta Gamma did for this foundation I knew that this was  definitely  my home for the next four years.   

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Who?  

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    To start off, I interviewed the current Vice President of Foundation in the Gamma Mu chapter of Delta Gamma, Valentina Escobar, who also happens to be a very close friend of mine. One of first things that I asked her when we sat down was why she chose to be Vice President of Foundations for our chapter, and this is what she said, “I've always had a passion for helping others and this position helps me do that! I can see how our chapter impacts others' lives and we all get to do it as a group.”

    Through Valentina's response, I could feel her passion and energy she had when speaking about her position in Delta Gamma. Yet, since I am a new member or more accurately known as a JI (Just Initiated) member, I was still not too sure what exactly her job was or what the position itself entailed. When I asked Val said, "I  organize all of our major philanthropic events for the semester, our biggest ones being Anchor Splash,  DG  Desserts, and  Anchor  Games. I also keep up with everyone's service hours, find volunteer opportunities, make sure we participate in other philanthropies, and of course there is paperwork for all of that. I think of new ways to bring awareness to Service for Sight and get people involved!” She runs all of the events that we put on with the intention of raising money and awareness for Service for Sight. This upcoming spring Valentina, with the help of the member of our chapter, will be planning and assembling two of our main Spring time events Delta Gamma Desserts, and Anchor Games. Of these  three,  I asked Val,"Which function that  she thought  raised  the most  awareness for our philanthropy here at FSU?" She  immediately  responded, "I  think Anchor Splash raises the most awareness! We have the most participants and are able to get the message out better.” These events are held at almost every active  collegiate  Delta Gamma chapter  across the nation, specific instructions and details about the events are provided in the  foundation  handbook.  Since this is my first year in this organization, I have yet to  experience either of  these spring events first hand, but I did have the  privilege  of  helping with and  participating in our fall  philanthropy, Anchor Splash.   

 

What?  

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    After asking Valentina about precisely what she does for her position on our CMT (Central Management Team), I asked her to further explain what Delta Gamma's fraternity was  and she replied, "DG’s philanthropy is Service for Sight. We are dedicated to impacting the lives of those who are  visually  impaired by donating to Delta Gammas School for the blind, eye loss prevention programs, awareness for prevention, guide dogs, and more! We are also involved in Joining Forces where we provide aid to the veterans of our country who have suffered any sort of vision loss". Each year we  fundraise  for this  organization in numerous ways, but the three primary events that we host that create the most profit  and  awareness are Anchor Games, Delta Gamma Desserts, and Anchor Games.  

    To kick off the start of each year, the Gamma Mu chapter of Delta Gamma hosts our annual fall  philanthropy  to  raise  money and awareness for our Foundation, Service for  Sight. This event is called  Anchor Splash, which  consists of a group of no more than eight to ten  members  from each fraternity on campus performing a two minute  dance routine on land and  two minutes in the water for a total of a four minute  synchronized  routine. The women of our chapter are also assigned to each  of the teams participating  to help the men from each fraternity create and learn their dances before the day of the event. These routines  typically include the year's top rated songs, as well as a wide  variety  of the year's  widely known dance steps that  accompany  those songs or others like them.  Some teams even decide to  use  different props and tools to try and better their chances of winning this competition. For the boys, winning Anchor Splash is all

about  earning bragging rights for their fraternity, but for us as Delta Gamma's it's about so much more. It’s about taking the  time  to promote this event as much as possible in the preceding months so that we can reach the  tremendous levels of awareness and support that we do each year.  According to our  official  website, fsudeltagamma.com, "It is always our most successful fundraising event of the year, raising over $50,000 for Service for Sight in the past 4 years! " The ability to participate in the planning and production of Anchor Splash, and to see the immense success  that the daylong event had has  definitely made me even more thrilled to be helping out Valentina with this  semester's  upcoming  events. 

    Secondly, the next big event that we assemble and run  ourselves as a chapter is a huge fundraiser  called Delta Gamma Desserts.  This function much like Anchor Splash, and any other DG event is ran by all of the women within the chapter volunteering to help with little tasks under the leadership of VP Foundation.  DG Desserts is held at our house which is located at 143 North  Copeland Street,  on the corner of Call and Copeland, which  is right outside of  Florida State's campus. All members of the Florida State University community are welcome to come and take part in eating the numerous different deserts that were homemade by the women of our chapter. Prior to this event everyone in the chapter  sells as many tickets as they can,  whether it’s to their friends or member  of the community  who may or may not be apart of Greek Life.  Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the music and walk around the house and talk to the girls of the chapter  regardless of if they decide to take advantage of the delicious sweets that are set out for the community.   

    In  addition, last year our chapter decided to establish the first annual Anchor Games with hopes of further aiding  Service for Sight. This philanthropy was set in place  aiming to raise even more money and attention for the foundation than any previous year  with the inclusion of this event. Anchor Games, similar  to Anchor Splash,  is inclusive of all of the  fraternities who want to take part here  at Florida State. However, unlike Anchor Splash, this  philanthropy  event has a place for all of FSU  Panhellenic  to  participate  as well. This daylong event is filled with a  variety of  sporting events and other fun  activities  that serve as a  tremendous bonding  opportunity  for those within the Greek community. Although Anchor Games is a  new event that our  chapter is hosting, last year it was a huge success with the help of our then Vice President of Foundation, Cristina  Snyder. With the help from many  volunteers within the  chapter,  Cristina went on to not  only  have a  financially  successful event, but a very memorable one as well, that still gets brought up all of the time even after almost a year.  

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How?  

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    Altogether,  each of  these affairs that I have explained  respectively  take a couple  months of planning so that it can run as smooth  as  possible  while also intending to generate  as much profit for Service for Sight as possible. The way that we are able to raise such large sums of money from all of these events is by ticket sales and/or donations. Before each event, everyone in the chapter is responsible  for selling a certain number of hard-copy  tickets that are later redeemed at the door of the  philanthropy. Tickets can be purchased by anyone that wants to attend the function, or even those who don’t attend and  just want to support the foundation and our chapter. During my interview with  Valentina, I asked her,  how  much money  we typically raise annually for  our  philanthropy.  After careful thought, she  responded, "In efforts, our chapter alone is able to raise around  $15,000  every year. " When I heard that I was truly stunned  because  when we were first given  the task of selling tickets, I didn’t think much of it or that the money we  raised individually  would really amount to anything, but clearly I was wrong. This means that all of the hard work that goes into promoting these day long events  actually turns a profit, and a rather large one at that. Our biggest way of  announcing  and promoting our annual events is through the use of our social media accounts that stretch across most of the genres that make up social media. We post a series of Facebook status' periodically leading up to each event, some consisting of images of last year’s events, some explaining the importance and details of the event, and others may just serve as friendly reminders to buy tickets or to attend the event  itself. 

    The  use of social media has greatly impacted our ability to spread the word about our events  so that everyone can see them instead of only using physical copies that only inform those in the area. The  official  magazine of Delta Gamma promotes the use of using the hashtag, Delta Gamma, “In order to keep up with members across the world" (The  Anchora ,  page  2).  Social Media is often looked  at with a negative  connotation already  in mind, but it's one of the greatest resources that we have in our  society when it comes to spreading the word about events and by connecting people so  efficiently.   As a chapter before each philanthropy that we have, all of the members change our Facebook profile and cover photos to the same advertisement in order to get more people to come out and support the cause by buying a ticket or participating in the event. For our latest philanthropy events, DG Desserts and Anchor Games, these were the photos that we used to try and increase involvement. We also have designated Delta Gamma FSU Tumblr and Instagram pages that are also used for informational updates on different women in the chapter and to show case their accomplishments such as getting into a prestigious graduate school or getting a highly competitive internship. As a whole, Delta Gamma tries to maintain a positive and appropriate social media presence in hopes of upholding our reputation and values. 

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Why?  

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    Finally,  the reason why we spend  most of each year in Delta Gamma planning and hosting countless  fundraisers  and functions is to further aid our incredible philanthropy, Service for Sight. "This philanthropy has been at the heart of the Delta Gamma mission since 1936 when a member who was blind,  Ruth Billow, Eta-Akron, petitioned members to adopt "Aid to the Blind" as our official philanthropy.”(????) For almost a decade, Delta Gammas  around the nation have been doing their part in helping to support this foundation, while also learning all there is to know about what it means to be a Delta Gamma and how to uphold the name. One of the most important and highly stressed texts that we needed to learn during our new member process is known as Article II, this article  states, "The  objects of this Fraternity shall be to foster high ideals of friendship among women, to promote their educational and cultural interests, to create in them a true sense of social responsibility, and to develop in them the best qualities of  character" ("Our Story", www.deltagamma.org). 

    Every day the women of this fraternity strive to maintain and endure  this  system of  values  that was  set in place in Article II by the original  founders  of DG  in 1873. In  Mathiasen's  case study, he states  "In many instances, the values supported and the activities of these organizations (Greek-letter organizations)  may be counter to the institution's mission and this discrepancy can produce an unhealthy learning environment." At the Gamma Mu chapter of DG, all of the women in our chapter  hold each accountable for our actions by promoting  and  following  Article II.  We can do this by making sure that everyone is following the rules and having fun while also being safe with your sisters. Upholding this is very important because those values are what The Delta Gamma Fraternity is all about and based off of. In recognition for our yearly hard work and dedication to this Foundation, they return the favor by providing members of the fraternity with grants for  leadership and educational programming to advance leadership skills, and aid personal improvement as well. The foundation also provides annual gifts to some members of the community for the educational endeavors of their choosing. "The Foundation also provides financial assistance to members in crisis through Anchor Grants and to collegians through Sisters Helping Sisters: A Need-Based Scholarship Program.” 

(www.deltagamma.org) “Increased involvement may affect students’ satisfaction with the college environment, reinforcing a desire to continue academic pursuits, while at the same time creating a situation whereby the college experience facilitates members’ personal growth and development.” (Hunt & Rentz, 1994, p. 289) This quote from the Hunt and  Rentz is just another example that further shows the goodness and positive effects of being involved in the Greek community.   

 

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