Since its founding last spring, the Delta Kappa chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi—Washington University’s newest sorority—has been hard at work programming for this coming year.

Now, the chapter is preparing for its first large philanthropy event to benefit the sorority’s national cause, the Arthritis Foundation.

“We’ve been working really hard to get our philanthropy off the ground,” said senior Sandy Chen, chapter president.

According to information published by the sorority, 70 million American adults are affected by arthritis, and several types are more prevalent in women than in men.

“Arthritis is one of the most widespread diseases in the U.S. It affects a lot of people—one-third of all adults—and yet is really one of those that fly under the radar,” said senior Alex Choi, philanthropy chair for AOII. “You don’t hear a lot about it or see a lot of fundraisers for it.”

The entire philanthropy effort consists of a week of events for fundraising and raising awareness about arthritis. The week will culminate in a flag football game on the Swamp next Sunday called the Rose Bowl—named for AOII’s rose symbol.

The football event will draw participants from other campus Greek organizations—the 12 fraternities, six sororities, in addition to AOII, and other Greek organizations.

Chen said that in the future, the event will feature participants from other student organizations and the broader campus community as well.

“We want to set the trend of trying to be more inclusive to the community as a whole,” Chen said.

Since the event is the chapter’s first one of this scale, the decision was made to have Greek organizations participate only.

The sorority is encouraging University students to attend its fundraiser dinner on Thursday night at Racanelli’s Cucina on the Delmar Loop. A portion of the proceeds from that night will go to the Arthritis Foundation.

“A lot of our event is about incorporating campus groups into this particular philanthropy event,” Choi said.

To raise awareness about arthritis, Choi said the sorority will be encouraging students on campus to get arthritis facts from its members for points.

“Education is so important in this particular cause, because if you start taking medication early for arthritis, it is pretty much treatable.”

According to Chen, the chapter’s women have done a great deal of work during the colonization process, as well as after the chapter became recognized under the national Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII) sorority, such as writing bylaws and several other important aspects of starting a new chapter.

“Last year was crazy. Usually it’s a 10-month process [for colonization],” Chen said. “We had three months to do the work of 10 months.”

—With additional reporting by Kat Zhao.

3 Comments

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  On September 1, 2009 at 6:04 pm Tiffany Westrich said

  I’m so happy to hear your dedication to this cause! I am Founder of the “Buckle Me Up!” Movement, currently the only upcoming global arthritis non-profit that is focuses on educating about autoimmune specific arthritis conditions, as they are different than “arthritis” conditions. I am also the Rheumatoid Arthritis Examiner on Examiner.com AND HAPPY and PROUD to say I was born and raise in St. Louis (now living in Los Angeles). I would love to talk to your group or perhaps meet you in person next time I am in for a visit? Thank you for your efforts to make a difference!

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  On September 1, 2009 at 6:08 pm Tiffany Westrich said

  ps… I forgot to add that my organization is contracted with the Arthritis Foundation to assist with fundraising efforts so I would be happy to help spread awareness regarding the types of arthritis conditions, like Rheumatoid Arthritis, that are progressive and not curable. Again, thank you so much for selecting the Arthritis Foundation as your charity of choice!

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  On September 2, 2009 at 12:29 am Angie O said

  I am exciting to see this. I have one of the autoimmune versions of arthritis. If I can be of assistence, please let me know.

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Tags: AOPi, sandy chen, sorority

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