Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. partner with Delaware Valley Baptist Church to raise heart health awareness

Leading Ladies: “Go Red & Think Pink”

The “Leading Ladies Go Red & Think Pink” campaign is an initiative sponsored by the American Heart Association, American Stroke Association, American Cancer Society, and the Cancer Coalition of Burlington County.  Locally, the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Theta Pi Omega, Pi Mu Omega, and Epsilon Upsilon Omega chapters; have partnered along with the Rancocas Valley Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Delaware Valley Baptist Church to bring this worthwhile program to the African-American community on Friday, February 24, 2012 at Delaware Valley Baptist Church, located at 493 Beverly-Rancocas Road, Willingboro, NJ 08060.  This event is free and open to the public.

This is a collaborative event to share information about the importance of living life in healthy ways while sampling of “Healthy Food Recipes for the Soul” prepared by local chefs and food specialists. The goal of this collaborative is to share information with the hope of raising awareness about the importance of living life in healthy ways to prevent heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer among African-Americans.

The highlights of the evening will be health information workshops on heart health and breast cancer awareness. In addition, participants will be provided a sampling of heart healthy foods prepared by local chefs and food specialist. Further, there will be a video on display, which will feature women who will share their testimonies about living with or having overcome heart health issues and breast cancer.

Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of women, taking the life of one in three women each year, and this is especially important for African-American women, who are at increased risk due to factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and diabetes.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among African-American women. It is also the second leading cause of cancer death among African-American women, exceeded only by lung cancer.

We hope that you will join us on February 24th for a casual evening of caring, sharing, and fun.

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On January 15, 2012, graduate and undergraduate Alpha Kappa Alpha women along with the men of the Jericho Lodge #20, Free and Accepted Masons, Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of PA partnered to celebrate the life Martin Luther King Jr.  The event was held at Barack Obama Academy of International Studies.

The event opened with a welcome to over 100 members and guests, followed by dinner and song by Brady and Brana Hill.  Mr. Andre’ McGee, Past Master followed by presenting the audience with a powerful video entitled “Keepers of the Dream” to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Event co-chair Jackie Blakey led the group discussion on how the guests in attendance and young people continue to keep the dream of Martin Luther King.

In addition to paying a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., military families were honored and recognized for their service and sacrifices to our country.  With the assistance of the Students Ambassadors at Pittsburgh Dilworth PK-5^th grade, the two organizations were able to present over 50 food baskets to veterans transitioning back into civilian living through a program sponsored by the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital.  Event co-chair, Dr. Monica Lamar is the principal of Pittsburgh Dilworth PK-5^th Grade.

On Monday, January 16, 2012 the Sorors of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Phi Tau Omega chapter along with family and friends partnered with Hands On Atlanta for their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at Renaissance Elementary School in Fairburn, GA. Volunteering in this event supports Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Initiative V: Social Justice and Human Rights. The day was filled with fun activities for the entire family! Participants worked in various areas including landscaping, arts/crafts and mural painting. Mrs. Saletria Cail, Phi Tau Omega’s Basileus stressed the importance of remembering Dr. King’s legacy of cooperation and working together. She stated, “Phi Tau Omega is proud to be of service to Renaissance Elementary and City of Fairburn on this historic holiday!”

A local sorority has dedicated itself to making life better for homeless children in the area.

The Marshall University Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority adopted a room at Hovah Hall Underwood Children’s Home in Ona, W.Va.

The room serves as a short-term emergency children’s shelter operated by The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia.

“We are ever so grateful when wonderful organizations, like the great ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha, donate their time and effort to make our home beautiful for the kids we serve,” said Melody Plumley, site manager, in a press release.

Alpha Kappa Alpha adopted a girl’s room at the shelter and decorated it in green and pink, the sorority’s colors. The sorority has been involved since 2011.

In April, they hosted the Ivy Academy, a one-day leadership conference for local high school girls, with a community and campus drive and collected approximately 5,000 personal care items for the residents of the home.

“Alpha Kappa Alpha is committed to community service, and we have initiatives we are committed to completing,” said Kara Hornbuckle,  senior exercise science major and chapter president of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Throughout the year, the sorority provides training sessions in life skills, college life, diversity and regularly hosts a game night for the residents.

The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to helping homeless children throughout the state.

The society was founded in 1896 by Reverend D.W. Comstock of Arkansas.

In 1900, United States Senator Henry Gassaway Davis donated $10,000, which allowed the society to purchase its first children’s shelter in Charleston.

The society is currently in charge of nine shelters and helps with adoptions to place children in homes as quickly as possible.  The society also provides behavioral health, advocacy and social services to underprivileged and developmentally disabled children.

“One of our goals is to make the shelter pleasant and homelike for our children,” Plumley said in the release. “Their safety and comfort is key.”

It is not always easy to put the needs of others before your own, but that feeling you get when you serve your fellow man is phenomenal. That is something Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior believed in and my sorority sisters do, too.

On the day when the nation remembers the dream, the legacy of Dr. King, for the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, service is in the center of it all.

“I think it’s more than auspicious that Martin Luther King was actually born on January 15th and Alpha Kappa Alpha was born on January 15th in 1908. Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is an organization of college educated women, and we want to reach into the community and make sure as many women can be educated as possible,” said Miriam Blanks-Smart, Pitau Omega president.

A recent gathering was all about giving as this sisterhood lends a helping hand to another — the young mothers at Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit.

“We are going to stock a closet at the Catherine Ferguson academy,” Blanks-Smart explained.

The AKA Care Closet is what they’ll call it and in it will be everything you can imagine to support, educate and empower the girls to get their lives back on track.

“They’re trying to pull their lives up after some adversity and make sure that their children’s lives are far better than theirs in terms of their preparation so that they won’t make the mistakes that they may have made in having children as teenagers. So, they want their children to be educated, and they’re taking the first step by making sure that they are educated and graduate from high school,” Blanks-Smart said. “We want to help them.”

On the MLK Day of Service, a day of remembrance, least we forget those who are serving and sacrificing for each of us every day — our veterans, their families and the military servicemen and women.

“It is an honor to us to be able to say thank you for the men and women who have sacrificed their lives, sacrificed their families for this country and for our freedoms,” said Mary Hall-Thiam, Delta Psi Omega president.

“It makes you really go out and represent those persons who take the time to say we care. We love you. We support you, and certainly as you go over there, we realize that you don’t say no to us, so we won’t say no to you,” said First Lieutenant Demetries Luckett with the Michigan Army National Guard.

“Those dreams of Martin Luther King fit directly with the selfless work of our military veterans and our current service people,” Blanks-Smart said.

AKA chapters throughout metro Detroit and Ann Arbor sponsor this celebration hoping the spirit of service to all mankind will continue on.

“I want them to think about what they owe to society and to the next generation and to the memory of not only Dr. King, but to being an activist,” Hall-Thiam said.

Though there is always more work to be done, as we continue to follow the dream, on this day, Dr. King, “I think he would say I am proud of you. I see that my message, I see that my actions, I see that my ideology that I worked so hard [for] and others, that it is taking root and that it is growing in the 21st century of this world,” Hall-Thiam told us.

At Howard University in 1908, sisters Beulah and Lillie Burke helped to found Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority. At Washington and Lee University 103 years later, sisters Devin Cooper ’11 and Amber Cooper ’12 helped to found a W&L chapter of that Greek organization.

“We tease them and call them the Burke sisters,” said Tamara Y. Futrell, associate dean of students. Futrell, a member of AKA herself, worked with the Coopers to bring the sorority to W&L.  The Tau Zeta Chapter of AKA, which was chartered last March with 12 members, is one of two historically black sororities on campus.

The other is the Tau Omega Chapter of  Delta Sigma Theta, which is a joint chapter with Hollins University and Roanoke College. It is recruiting and has active members on the other campuses, although none is currently enrolled at W&L. Both sororities belong to the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), which oversees the nine traditionally black fraternities and sororities. Except for one that dates to 1963, those Greek organizations were founded between 1906 and 1922. With the arrival of AKA, W&L has eight Panhellenic and National Pan-Hellenic sororities in all.

AKA established a presence on campus in 2005 when three W&L students became general members, meaning they were unaffiliated with a specific chapter. Several obstacles delayed colonization on campus. “It takes 12 people to start a chapter, and I don’t think that they had the numbers early on,” said Futrell. “We underwent international administration changes, and that held up the process, and then we had to wait until we had trained graduate advisors in the supervising graduate chapter, Beta Chi Omega, which is located in Roanoke that could assist us with the chapter.”

“In terms of recruitment and retention for Washington and Lee, I think it’s very important that people see all sides of Greek life,” said Amber Cooper, AKA’s current president. While the existing Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council (IFC) Greek organizations may be the best choice for some students, said Cooper, a mass communications major, it’s good to have the option of NPHC fraternities and sororities. “I’m hoping that in the coming years there will be more.”

Kahena Joubert ’13, AKA’s treasurer, agreed. The first in her family to join AKA, she was impressed by the sorority’s dedication to public service. “I really wanted to be a member of an NPHC organization, and after doing my research, I realized I really wanted to be a member of AKA because I really liked what they were about, service and sisterhood.” Joubert is majoring in business administration and politics and has worked with the Multicultural Student Association.

Dedication to community service is one of the most notable characteristics of NPHC fraternities and sororities. The sorority is “very service-oriented, very philanthropic. We don’t do a whole lot of partying and things like that. While we do have social activities, that is  not our focus,” said Futrell. Women who join NPHC sororities consider themselves lifetime members and take seriously their commitment to continue philanthropic activities after graduation.

NPHC fraternities and sororities are not part of the IFC or the Panhellenic Council. “Totally separate bodies, but we encourage collaboration,” said Futrell. “We are totally separate because our recruitment and member  intake processes are completely different. We have different rules and different policies that govern us as opposed to the other two bodies.”

Women planning to join AKA, for example, do not go through Panhellenic-style rush,. Instead, AKA hosts a Rush Session in which interested women submit applications for membership and then are voted on. AKA is open to all women, and two non-African-American students became charter members at W&L last spring. One of those, sophomore Sally Platt from Fredericksburg, Texas, said she joined for a variety of reasons.

“As a blond-haired, blue eyed Texan of Irish descent I kind of look a little out of place. But that is the awesome thing about AKA — it is really not about color. The ideals of the sorority stay the same, no matter what,” Platt said. “Our goal is to provide ‘Service to all Mankind,’ and this is something the sorority really stands for.”

AKA’s new members are looking forward to starting their philanthropic projects. Internationally, the sorority focuses on seven signature initiatives: emerging young leaders, health, global poverty, economic security, social justice and human rights, and internal leadership training. The W&L chapter plans to work on breast-cancer awareness and to partner with an Atlanta organization, Living Water for Girls, that aids young victims of sex trafficking. Devin Cooper began her involvement with Living Water while she was a student. A biology major, she is now a member of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in its medical school.

“One that we haven’t started, but that I’m excited to start, is the Emerging Young Leaders Program,” said Joubert. “We partner with girls in middle school to get them excited about going to high school and college, and just being their mentors.”

Amber Cooper and Joubert are glad W&L took an active and supportive role in bringing AKA to campus. “Bringing diversity to campus says a lot about the way W&L is moving,” said Joubert, “and how diverse we’re becoming, and how accepting we’re becoming of just lots of different things.”

In the wake of a college drum major’s death in Florida, a lawmaker from the state plans to introduce anti-hazing legislation when Congress returns in mid-January.

The bill would strip financial aid from anyone sanctioned by a university for hazing or witnessing hazing and failing to report it – including the victim, said Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson.

“Hazing is demeaning, dangerous and, sadly, deadly,” Wilson, a former school principal, told the Los Angeles Times, adding that the death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion warrants a federal response.

Florida has toughened the penalties against hazing, but Wilson said in an interview that, under her proposal, if anyone witnesses hazing – “including the victim, they will tell because they don’t want to lose their federal aid.”

Florida officials have ruled Champion’s death in November a homicide. The incident has drawn national attention and generated soul-searching on college campuses throughout the country.

Wilson, who has yet to draft the legislation, said she also wants the U.S. attorney general to set up a commission to examine ways to stamp out hazing.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005 signed legislation making hazing that results in serious injury or death a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, even if the victim consents. The bill, the Chad Meredith Act, was named after a University of Miami freshman who drowned in a campus lake while trying to join a fraternity in 2001.

Wilson said that, notwithstanding the new law, “we have had a plethora of hazing incidents,” but prosecutions have been difficult because “you can’t find any victims to talk.”

“We’ve got to take a tougher stance,” added Wilson, who said that she became known as the “haze buster” while serving as South Atlantic regional director for the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. “It’s time to stop it.”

Congress has been considering legislation aimed at bullying, including requiring states to report bulling incidents and expanding programs for teachers, administrators and counselors on strategies to prevent bullying and harassment.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WITH ANNUAL COMMEMORATIVE BREAKFAST

Charitable Organization Challenges Community to Do Something for Others;

Community Leader and United States Army Officer

Brigadier General Barrye L. Price will honor us with a powerful message

MOUNT LAUREL — “We must have hearts full of grace and souls generated by love”; this phrase by the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tells us that above all else ‘love’ must be the main ingredient in making change in order to give selflessly for the benefit of our communities and will therefore lay the groundwork for all else to follow.

On the date of what would have been Dr. King’s 83rd birthday, People Motivating Others, Inc., and Pi Mu Omega Chapter use these words to serve as the theme for the 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Breakfast. The event which is being held on January 14, 2012 at The Merion in Cinnaminson, New Jersey provides an opportunity for Burlington County and surrounding communities to celebrate the remarkable legacy that King left behind.

The keynote speaker will be Brigadier General Barrye L. Price, US Army. Brigadier General Price (then Colonel Price) served on the President Clinton and First Lady’s Task Force on “Raising Responsible and Resourceful Teenagers” in 2000; served on President Clinton’s “Mississippi Delta Task Force” which sought to revitalize the 207-county, seven-state region that comprises the Mississippi River flood plain from 1999 through 2000. He served as the Battalion Commander, 4th Personnel Services Battalion, Fort Carson, Colo.; Executive Officer and Military Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs (Human Resources) at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

PMO and the Pi Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. will also use the occasion to recognize the efforts of Burlington County citizens who have made outstanding contributions to the community. This year, the recipients of the 2012 Community Service Award are Reverend Ernest and Reverend Maretta Marke and Mr. James and Mrs. Barbara Winfield.

The Markes, both natives of Liberia, have a passion to help make a better life for the children in their homeland. The Markes, who founded True Light Ministries International, have given unselfishly of their time by reaching across the globe to carry out a vision and mission given to them by the Lord to start a school in Liberia for orphaned children. Their efforts have resulted in them sending food, household items, clothing, and medical supplies to Liberia for use in the orphanage.  The Markes have a special place in their hearts for children; therefore, they also reach out to the youth of Willingboro. They offer after school activities, mentoring and Bible Study to help the youth of the community stay on the right track.

The Winfield’s, both Virginia natives, came to the Burlington area to make a difference. They are long time members of Christ Baptist Church in Burlington, N.J. where they serve as Deacon and Deaconess in addition to numerous church boards and ministries. Most recently, they have been involved in Habitat for Humanity to bring serving families the key to homeownership through their hard work.

The musical throughout the breakfast will be Jazpir Trio (Jerry Martin). The breakfast will begin at 9 a.m. at The Merion 1301 Route 130, Cinnaminson NJ 08077.