You’ll Never Graduate from Doing Good!

One of the hardest parts about being a recent graduate (for me, at least) is the lack of sorority events. I miss all of the grab-a-dates, formals, exchanges and sisterhoods. I even miss dragging myself out of bed early on a Saturday morning (hopefully there wasn’t a triad the night before!) to volunteer for Inherit the Earth. At Mu, my collegiate chapter, we adopted Green Lake Park as part of our Inherit the Earth philanthropy, and would have biquarterly street cleans.  Being Seattleites, we would put on our cutest rain boots and North Face shells and walk around picking up trash and weeds while chattering with our sisters about whatever had happened the night before.  We would leave with the lake a little cleaner, a few trash bags of odds-and-ends, and smiles on our faces.

As an alumna, it’s easy to forget that while grab-a-dates are a thing of the past, your philanthropic work with Sigma Kappa is far from over.  Not only is volunteering as an alumna for Sigma Kappa a perfect activity for reconnecting with your pledge sisters, it is an amazing way to mentor collegians to help provide for the future of Sigma Kappa, our sisterhood and our philanthropies.

Sigma Kappa collegians and alumnae at the 2011 Walk to End Alzheimer's in Seattle.

Even if street cleans aren’t your thing, Sigma Kappa has so many philanthropies to choose from.  I still remember being somewhat overwhelmed during Philanthropy Day of Recruitment when my soon-to-be-sister rattled the list off for me!  My personal favorite philanthropy is probably taking part in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in the fall.  Dressing up in my favorite “Sigma Kappas Give Back” shirt and coming together as a team to raise money for an amazing cause always is a heartwarming and amazing experience – and the fun’s not over now that we have graduated.  This past fall, my Seattle Area Sigma Kappa Alumnae Group teamed up with the Mu collegians to form a gigantic team for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.  The joint efforts not only provided a fun interlude from recruitment preparations, but also achieved some remarkable fundraising that definitely made a difference for a worthy cause.

Graduated or not, you are a Sigma Kappa for life – and part of that means that our value of service is a lifelong commitment.  Besides, no matter what your favorite philanthropy happens to be, it is always a good idea to volunteer, and an even better idea to volunteer with your sisters! So be sure to check in with your local alumnae group about upcoming volunteer events. Not only will you be volunteering for a good cause, you will be fostering the next generation of Sigma Kappas, safeguarding our sorority’s values of service and personal growth.

SLAM!

Dana