Saving Lives, One Event at a Time
Writer: Hannah F. Editor: Grace C. Photographer: Kasey B.
Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delta) was founded in order to create a society that would cultivate a culture of kindness and inclusivity. Through their philanthropic work for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Maura’s Voice, Tri Delta has raised an incredible amount of money and awareness.
Tri Delta has hosted many philanthropic events in order to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; most recently, they hosted Delta Dodgeball. As the name suggests, Delta Dodgeball is a dodgeball tournament that raises money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Additionally, Tri Delta hosts a fundraising competition between the Fraternities where each chapter can nominate a brother to run for St. Jude Soldier. According to the Philanthropy Chair, Halie H., “The dodgeball tournament takes place to show support for a desired St. Jude Soldier contestant.” In short, each St. Jude Soldier contestant has a dodgeball team that represents them. The Fraternity that wins the tournament earns the title of St. Jude Soldier for the contestant that they are playing for. They also win Tri Delta merchandise and meals!
Delta Dodgeball was an incredible event that required every sister to be involved in some way. The incoming Director of Philanthropy, Sydney C., and outgoing Director of Philanthropy, Kendall B., worked tirelessly to ensure the event ran smoothly. Additionally, Sydney’s new assistant, Halie H., played a pivotal role in organizing Delta Dodgeball. She helped Sydney run errands and head the philanthropy committee, which played an important role in finalizing Delta Dodgeball volunteer assignments and communication between the entire chapter and Sydney, Kendall, and Halie regarding Delta Dodgeball. They visited all of the Fraternities in order to promote the St. Jude Soldier competition and encourage brothers to enter the dodgeball tournament.
Organizing a successful philanthropy event is an endless accumulation of a lot of moving parts. They have also excitedly promoted the event and encouraged on-campus organizations to register for the tournament, booked the IM fields, assigned jobs to all of the sisters, and worked to raise as much money as possible.
There were lots of available jobs for each sister, from checking tournament participants in and out, working the St. Jude table and explaining what St. Jude does, and acting as ball runners, water girls bracket trackers, referees, and coaches.
Despite the demanding nature of organizing a successful philanthropy event, Sydney C. was up for the challenge. Service is the reason she joined a sorority, and Tri Delt stuck out to her because her stepbrother had cancer growing up. Sydney explained that she has always felt an inexplicable link to St. Jude because the research funding for her stepbrother came from St. Jude. Thus, she has always wanted to give back.
Kendall was inspired to get involved with Tri Delt’s philanthropy because of her passion for pediatric care; she had a lot of first-hand experience with healthcare growing up. In reference to her passion for philanthropy, she said, “To me, St. Jude symbolizes hope. While a lot of people think of St. Jude and immediately think about pediatric oncology, they do so much more. The part of St. Jude that stands out to me the most is its mission to find cures for chronic and life-threatening pediatric diseases. Having a chronic disease myself, I am able to understand the hardships firsthand of living with a disease that has no cure. St. Jude’s efforts to find cures for these diseases gives me hope that there eventually will be a cure to all chronic diseases altering the health and lives of pediatric patients everywhere.”
Through her contribution to Delta Dodgeball, Halie was inspired by her sisters’ dedication to making the event the best it could be. When reflecting on the event, she says “I just wanted to brag a little about how amazing and dedicated my sisters are to our philanthropy. I am truly proud to be a Tri Delta and to be representing our chapter and St. Jude!”