Sigma Beta sisters are generous and hard working and their excellence is highlighted here. The highest individual honor is the Sigma Beta of the Year crown and it is worn proudly. Outstanding chapters are recognized with the Olive King Maurer Chapter Service Award. Chapter Charity Award recognizes donor contributions to National Charities. Other awards showcased below represent excellence in Sigma Beta and inspiration to its members.
SIGMA BETA OF THE YEAR
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2014 Nancy Donohoo l of Epsilon Pi Chapter
OUR “CAN-DO” SISTER demonstrates the Ideal Sigma Beta with her “CAN-DO” attitude! She can do a positive attitude like nobody’s business and her glass is always MORE than half full. She can do anything she puts her mind to, but mostly what she does is touch lives in her own, unique style, day in and day out.Her typical day begins at 5 AM when she drives her adult, autistic son to work at a downtown hospital. Once back home, after a quick jaunt on the treadmill and a zip through the shower, she is off to one of her many regular, long-term volunteer jobs. At the Ronald McDonald house, she does the family room, keeping the necessary amenities stocked, answering the phones and providing a smiling face and comforting hug to the many families who find themselves there.When she does the Foster Care Review Board, she takes to heart the overall well-being and interests of the children, whose situation she is charged with evaluating. Our sister is incredibly fair and able to be objective. These qualities serve her well in this important job, as children’s futures are at stake.Our sister also does the chapter volunteer projects monthly. She joins other members of the chapter at both the local food bank and Samaritan Center. Whether it is helping the group fill over 1300 sacks per month with the Sack Pack Program, or measuring fabric, stamping prices and dressing Barbie, she can do it! Both of these group charitable endeavors allow for plenty of chatting and laughter as sisters work side by side and she can do laughter! She keeps us all entertained and in high spirits with her stories and commentaries!Going above and beyond is something else this sister can do, although she doesn’t consider it as such. This past winter, our chapter had an opportunity to help a young, single mother of 4 who had had a particularly harsh run of bad luck. Upon delivering our group’s gift card and toys, it became evident how dire this young woman’s situation really was. Phone calls were made between sisters and our can-do sister sprang into action researching agencies that may be able to help. She jumped in her car and drove down to deliver the information in person and share some heart-felt words of encouragement. She then proceeded to fill this young mom’s gas guzzling car with gas so that she could get to work. We are sure her can do approach has positively touched this young mother’s heart!By now, our sister has driven back downtown to pick up her son from work. She has dropped him off AND picked him up from the Y for his daily workout. Routines and order are necessary for his days to run smoothly and she has lovingly and patiently provided that for him every single day for over 30 years! She has dedicated herself to helping her son become self-sufficient, grow his people skills and become a functioning member of society. To see her face light up and hear the pride in her voice when sharing stories about her son is to know our sister!As the rest of us wind down to relax a bit before bedtime, our sister now sits down at her computer and does her less glamorous but also very necessary volunteer jobs on her rather large plate. As recording secretary of the chapter, our minutes are routinely sitting in the in-boxes of all members the very evening of our meeting. If those minutes are already done, she is hard at work on one of the TWO monthly newsletters she does for other organizations. One is for the local Newcomers Club. This publication is chock full of activities and information designed to help those new in town to meet and feel welcome in the area. The other is for a philanthropic organization whose mission is education for women. She spends many hours putting together a colorful, informative, scrap-book worthy newsletter! This past fall, our sister met with a group of high school counselors to explain the organizations’ many scholarships available and to try to get a candidate for a state scholarship. Her efforts resulted in not one, but two candidates!
Our sister also understands that in order to be charitable, we have to do fundraisers. She was our “top seller” of Belk Charity Days tickets this year and could sell “ice to an eskimo” as the saying goes! Just ask her about her blender-selling days and she will have a story for you! She has volunteered to hold our spring garage sale at her house this year as well as having volunteered the services of her husband. We are not sure if he knows this yet, but undoubtedly he will find out soon!
As evening has now long ago settled, our sister is jotting a quick card to a friend in need of a kind thought, or a text to let someone know she is thinking of them. This can do attitude is all in a days’ work for her and is what she does. Apparently our sister doesn’t sleep, which can be the only explanation of how she can do so much in a single day! We are spoiled and honored to call her “sister” and we lovingly nominate her for Sigma Beta of the Year!
OLIVE KING MAURER CHAPTER SERVICE AWARD
- 2014 Epsilon Kappa Chapter of Holly, MI
- THE CHAPTER THAT PLAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHERThis year we ended the summer with a pool party cookout celebrating our chapter’s 15th birthday in Sigma Beta Sorority. It seems like just yesterday we “little pups” were getting trained by our “Big Dog” mentors. We’ve had so many good times and lifelong memories made with these wonderful ladies. Every year it amazes us on what our mighty group of women does for the betterment of society and the people around us.Our chapter focuses on having fun while making money for charity which in turn keeps us together and excited for each endeavor.Last September we held a golf outing and raffle to benefit Genesys Reunion With a Cause, a local organization that raises money for cancer patients to assist with living expenses and items not covered by insurance. We had 52 golfers and made a profit of $915.00.In November we sold squares for the big rival football game that brought in a profit of $688.00 and allowed us to make a donation to one of our sister’s co-workers who is 39 years old and suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia. We also held the first of two annual casino bus fundraisers which made $846.00 for the local chapter of Wreaths Across America, an organization that lays wreaths at veteran cemeteries across the country. Our chapter also participated in the annual volunteer day held in December and laid wreaths at the local National Cemetery. It was so cold and the weather so bad that the semi-trucks delivering the wreaths were 2 hours late but we still had a smile on our frozen faces making those memories.We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with our annual slumber party meeting and gift exchange. Every year we include a fundraiser as part of the festivities and this year through our Thirty-One purchases raised $60.In February we sold Super Bowl Squares and raised $962.00 and donated $500.00 to a sister’s best friend suffering from Multiple Sclerosis.Many laughs were had at the comedy show we hosted in March at Airway Lanes. We made a total profit of $558.00 and made a donation to the local ALS chapter and the profit from our 50/50 went to the wife of the man we had donated to the prior year who had recently passed away from this awful disease.March Madness is always a nail biting fun time and again this year we sold basketball squares that brought in a profit of $200 which we donated in memory of our huge sports fanatic friend to the Play Like Jackson fund that was created in memory of a friend’s son. The fund focuses on reaching out to families with children who are coping with loss or dealing with other difficult issues to find out if and how we can help.
Our chapter tried our hands at hosting a euchre tournament and had a great time doing so. We had 20 card players and raised $515. With that we were able to help sponsor a dear friend with her medical mission trip to Haiti.
The second of our annual casino bus fundraisers was held in April and brought in a profit of $315.60 for our charity account. That helped us make a $50.00 donation to Barbells for Boobs, sponsor $50.00 to one of our sisters in a kickboxathon in support of St. Jude, give $100.00 to Christmas in Action which is made up of a group of volunteers that renovate and repair low income senior citizen homes, give another $50.00 to St. Jude’s directly, $100.00 to a local food bank, and $100.00 to a local scholarship fund.
We are so excited to imagine the fun to be had and the money to be made for many, many more years in this wonderful organization and truly appreciate and hold tight those friends that we have made.
