As the world has shifted to virtual platforms to maintain connection and engagement throughout the pandemic, Tri Delta’s collegiate and alumnae chapters are finding creative ways to continue their efforts to fight childhood cancer while social distancing.
Fundraising on Facebook
Over the summer, the Long Island Alumnae Chapter created an interactive, online Facebook event in place of its annual in-person Silver, Gold and Basket Night Fundraiser, held in September to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The auction is held entirely on Facebook, as Erica Passarella explains: “We find items that might interest members and are reasonably priced and readily available for purchase. We add about $100 give or take to the purchase price and then divide that into a set number of spots. Members will let us know how many spots they want and then pay through one of our payment apps (Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, PayPal Etc.). Once spots are filled, we close the item.”
To make the auction interactive, the chapter spins live on Facebook with a random free online wheel to announce the winner. Winners are also encouraged to post photos of their gifts once they receive them.
The auction was originally held June 8 through July 16 and then opened again on Aug. 23 in time for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September. The Facebook group itself has grown considerably with close to 900 members participating.
“We started out with inviting friends of ours and then told members to invite their friends to the group,” says Erica.“ As an incentive to invite more people every 200 members we spin for a free prize that the chapter pays for.”
The chapter has raised more than $30,000 to date and is excited to raise more!
Florida Chapters Team Up
Last spring, with the cancellation of on-campus classes and events, two collegiate chapters joined forces to virtually fundraise for St. Jude. South Florida’s Beta Alpha Chapter and the University of Central Florida’s Beta Lambda Chapter participated in a $5K in a Day social media challenge called the War on I-4, a nod to the sports rivalry between UCF and USF.
Jayda-Lorayne Gordon, South Florida, philanthropy chair and Mackenzie Mathis, Central Florida, philanthropy chair, came up with the idea together at Tri Delta’s Collegiate Leadership Conference in February.
“We thought what better time than now to roll out this idea, especially because COVID-19 cut our schools short of many sports this season,” said Mackenzie. “Due to the pandemic, we expected this challenge to be a more difficult one, yet hoped that promoting the War on I-4 would encourage participation. As proud Tri Delta women, we know the importance of continuing to support our philanthropy despite the financial and emotional hardships at this time.”
Overall, the War on I-4 social media challenge was a success, and together the chapters raised nearly $5,000 for the kids of St. Jude.
Southern California Shares Successes
Tri Delta alumnae in Southern California have also shifted to virtual events to raise money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. This effort has been around since 1947 and is where our passion and commitment to ending children cancer was born more than 70 years ago. Learn more about how they did it by listening to our conversation with the Noelle Steele, President of Tri Delta 4 Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, in this Let’s Talk Tri Delta Podcast episode!