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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

Panhellenic adopts council-wide philanthropy

Twenty-two chapters are aiming to influence thousands of girls in 17 countries across four continents, one dollar at a time.

For the first time at IU, Panhellenic Council has adopted a council-wide philanthropy. Panhellenic Council Vice President of Community Involvement Sarah Taylor proposed adopting the Circle of Sisterhood philanthropy foundation last semester.

“I’m a member of one chapter, but what I really am is I’m greek in general,” Taylor said. “I think that easily gets lost because we all get so close to the girls in our houses and the women in our chapter. When we have a united front then that’s so much power to tap into. It’s just expanding on any potential that we have.”

Circle of Sisterhood’s mission is to have sorority women empower other women in poverty-stricken countries through education.

“We are all so blessed to be going to college and be educated women,” PHA Director of Sustainability Katie Nobbe said. “As educated women, we should want other women to be educated as well because that helps break the poverty cycle.”

The Circle of Sisterhood was founded in 2010. They partnered with buildOn in 2012 to build a school in Senegal through donations.

An estimated $53 sends a girl to school with supplies, according to the Circle of Sisterhood website.

The Circle of Sisterhood donation breakdown goes as follows: 24 cents pays for a notebook and a pencil, $3.30 pays for lunch, $7 pays for textbooks, and $29 buys a uniform.

All 22 chapters will contribute to fundraising for Circle of Sisterhood in addition to their individual philanthropies.

The largest fundraising portion will come from this year’s recruitment fees. Every potential new member registered for recruitment had an extra dollar added to the standard 70-dollar fee. This is the first time Panhellenic has attached a philanthropic donation to the fees, PHA adviser Alexa Arndt said.

“Sometimes I think greek students forget what a privilege it is to be a greek,” Arndt said. “I think the message to potential new members that, ‘Look, you’re already contributing to Circle of Sisterhood is powerful in and of itself because you’re working for something larger than yourself, but also you’re getting the privilege of being greek.’”

IU’s Panhellenic Association hosts 22 of the 26 national chapters. This makes IU one of the biggest organizations to adopt Circle of Sisterhood as its council-wide philanthropy.

Sorority women across the nation make up the largest community of college women in the world, according to the Circle of Sisterhood website.

IU is one of 170 campuses that takes part in Circle of Sisterhood, according to the Circle of Sisterhood website.

“It’s a big statement that Indiana University’s Panhellenic really cares about giving back,” Arndt said. “Sorority women giving back to other women through education is a meaningful experience because women who are 19 to 23 recognize the privilege that they have in their ?education.”

Less than 7 percent of men and women combined have college degrees worldwide. Women, specifically, make up two thirds of illiterate adults, according to the Circle of Sisterhood website.

“ (They’re) not given obvious opportunities which are obvious to us, but not obvious in other places, which is scary and really hard to imagine,” Delta Gamma executive member Liz Wadas said.

As of now, Panhellenic does not have any set stipulations for individual chapter involvement, Arndt said. However, some chapters have taken it upon themselves to include donations in their monthly fees, Nobbe said.

“As college-aged women, it’s really easy to not feel empowered,” Taylor said. “I think by empowering others you end up empowering yourself as well.”

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