Sigma Delta Tau to celebrate week of service

The women of Sigma Delta Tau will spend their afternoon playing with the children at Middle Way House today.

It is the first day of the sorority’s “SDT Gives Back” Week.

SDT is the first IU sorority to devote an entire week to community service, said Hayley Grossman, SDT’s vice president of recruitment.

SDT Gives Back Week is today through Oct. 26.

Women in the sorority will volunteer at a variety of communal nonprofit organizations including the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Beverly Healthcare of Bloomington Nursing Home, Community Kitchen of Monroe County and IU Campus Gardening.

This week was created by junior Vice President of Philanthropy Chelsey Brown.

“I thought we should create more events to give back to the community,” Brown said. “Every chapter has a philanthropy to give back nationally, but I wanted to give back to our community.”

Brown said she doesn’t want this to be solely SDT’s philanthropy.

“This could be something the whole greek community could do in the future,” Brown said. “There’s so much variety in the community there’s something to do for everyone.”

Brown said she wanted to push for a communal project in which the sorority could help out an assortment of organizations.

“We wanted to do a service project in a creative way that involves all of the sisters,” Grossman said. “We wanted to do it as a complete unit, and no one has ever done this before.”

Grossman said this is a way she and the entire sorority can give back to Bloomington.

“We want to give back to our community, especially because Bloomington has given our sorority so much,” she said. “It’s such a welcoming community. Most of our sorority is from out of state, and this is the one place we have in common.”

Though this is their trial year, Grossman said she hopes to have this week of service every year in the future.

The final event is a community walk around campus on Oct. 26.

The “Out of Darkness” walk is an event to raise awareness about suicide prevention, depression and other mental disorders.

This event is a 3- to 5-mile walk and will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Participants will meet at Memorial Stadium.

The walk is open to anyone who wants to register. The registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 25.

This week of service is in addition to SDT’s national organization’s philanthropy, Prevent Child Abuse America.

Prevent Child Abuse America is a voluntary organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse through citizen action, according to the national website.

In September, SDT staged a carnival called “It’s GREAT To Be A Kid,” and the event donated more than $3,000 to the organization.

The chapter members also sold a custom OPI nail polish shade, “Girls Achieve Grapeness,” until Oct. 20.

These sales supported Jewish Women International.

All of the proceeds will go to JWI programs that help young women become safe and
independent.

“We plan on doing this every year,” Grossman said. “I think from now on this will be a very important tradition for SDT.”

Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.