Sororities join in prayer

Many people have donated to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and their families. Some have given money; others, blood. The women of the Phi Mu, Delta Gamma and Kappa Delta sororities are giving their prayers.\nAt 7 p.m. Thursday at Phi Mu, the three sororities combined and held a candlelight vigil called "Project Linking Together Hope." Initiated by Michelle Speziale, a senior member from Phi Mu, the event brought the sisters together to pray for the people who have lost their lives in the attacks or sacrificed themselves while trying to save the lives of others in the rubble.\n"It is something different," Speziale said of the event. "Everyone is donating money, but we wanted to do something more symbolic."\nAll of the participants were encouraged to make a chain out of construction paper and write messages on the links. The messages included such sentiments as, "God bless our countries and the lives lost," and "Pray for the children." Later, all of the chapters linked their chains together to form long ropes of hopes and prayers.\n"This acts as a reminder that this is still going on," Speziale said, "and says we are all united and we are all thinking of you."\nThe sororities plan to hang their chains up by the e-mail station in the Indiana Memorial Union in hopes that people checking their mail will notice the message. \nSpeziale said the women plan to design a large sign illustrating and remarking on the chain and its importance for everyone.\nBut the night did not end with the ceremony. Unity between the sororities proved to be just as important as unity of the country. \n"I think that our chapter is just hoping to come together with different sororities for a common good," senior Lynn Olinger, vice president of Kappa Delta, said. "We want to show that even though we are pretty far away, we are still affected."\nAfter the messages were linked, the members all stayed together and watched the newest episode of "Friends" while snacking on some breadsticks.\n"We thought it would be a good opportunity to do a sister sorority event to kind of keep the greek community going," senior Lila Doma, president of Delta Gamma, said. "We make sure we stay friends and get to know other people in the other chapter's houses."\n The group wanted the night of reflection to end on a positive tone, the women said.\n "We wanted the night to be somber, symbolic but end on a lighter note," Speziale said.\n With the attacks being over a month old, the participants remarked that immediacy was not as much of a goal of this event as remembrance. The sororities wanted students to realize that the impact of Sept. 11 is far from over.\n "We have all donated money and have done our individual things," Speziale said. "This was the only date that could work for everyone involved. Now everything is coming forward. So many more people are getting affected by it and so many more issues are coming out of it"