Philanthropy

Our Delta Gamma chapter hosts two annual philanthropy events. Our fall event is Low Country Boil, which is held in October. Students, locals, friends, and family members enjoy a meal of all-you-can-eat shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn while listening to live music on our front lawn. This past fall, we had our 12th annual Low Country Boil where we hosted over 1,200 guests and raised over $7500 for the Timberwolves, a local beep baseball team. Our spring event is Anchor Jam, a concert benefiting Joining Forces. Last March, we hosted our first annual Anchor Jam at the Georgia Theatre in Downtown Athens and raised over $7500. We are all looking forward to this year’s event as it continues to grow!

Each semester, our chapter has a week filled with service called “Do Good Week” named after Delta Gamma’s motto. This week is filled with volunteer opportunities and that help spread awareness for our philanthropy, Service for Sight. We record books and proofread at Learning Ally, we play bingo and host holiday parties at local nursing homes, and we make meals for local homeless people, volunteer at the animal shelter, and write holiday cards for overseas military. These are just a few of the many ways we volunteer in our community.

In the spring of 2013, Delta Iota began mentoring a 12 year old girl with vision impairment. McClain is now 15 and in high school, she is completely blind in her right eye and slowly losing sight in her left eye. She is an aspiring swimmer and even participated in the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto. The Delta Gamma sisters have committed to providing McClain with a support system as she copes with the difficulty of losing her eyesight. McClain is an inspiration to the chapter and proves that each day is more precious than the one before. We have really enjoyed getting to know our "adopted sister" and love when she comes to see us at chapter and other events!
 
Many of the Delta Iota sisters are active members of the UGA Guide Dog Foundation. We have several women training guide dogs this year, while others babysit the dogs if their owner is busy. We have one guide dog that lives in our house each year and is raised by a sister. This year we have Simba, a beautiful and sweet yellow lab. These dogs are given to their owners while they are still puppies, throughout the year their trainers teach them many skills. After a year, the dogs are given back to the Guide Dog Foundation to move on to their next step in training. We are so passionate about this organization and even hold Guide Dog events for our members to meet all of guide dogs in training.