Alpha Phi's Red Dress Gala

Every fall the sisters of Alpha Phi host a weekend filled with football, family, and philanthropy. This year, our Parents Weekend and Red Dress Gala were held the weekend of September 16^th. Red Dress Gala is more than your typical Greek philanthropy. It is an elegant banquet, dinner, and silent auction for Alpha Phi’s sisters and their families. Although this evening is meant to be an enjoyable time with our families, the ultimate purpose of Red Dress Gala is to raise funds for the Alpha Phi Foundation. The Alpha Phi Foundation is broken into two parts: the Forget-Me-Not fund and research for Cardiac Care initiatives. This is where all of the money we raise from both Red Dress Gala and our spring semester philanthropy, Keep the Beat Week, goes.

In order to better understand what an evening at Alpha Phi’s Red Dress Gala is like let me paint the picture for you. The event was held in the large banquet room at Custom Catering. As the sisters and their families arrived, they were instructed to take a picture with their family with our letters in their red dresses. Then each family proceeded to their assigned tables to mingle and enjoy appetizers with the other Alpha Phi families. Auction items and baskets were on display around the room for everyone to take a look at and bid on throughout the night. These items ranged from jewelry pieces to a weekend at the Mountainside Villas of Massanutten Resort. 

The dinner buffet opened up about an hour or so into the evening and each table was dismissed one at a time to go get their meals. After dinner, we watched a wonderful video with pictures at Alpha Phi events throughout the year, pictures of sisters with their families, and pictures of loved ones lost due to the #1 killer, heart disease. Toward the end of the night, our Director of Philanthropy, Alli Sharper, and President, Alexandra Hoffman, made short speeches thanking everyone for attending and recognizing how important our cause was. The auction then closed and each item was announced for how much it sold for and to which family. Our grand total raised for the Alpha Phi Foundation was over $15,000 this year! This is a record-breaking amount of money that the Eta Omicron Chapter has raised, and we are so excited to present these funds to the Alpha Phi Foundation.

Tri Delta's Fall Festivities

Hello readers! First off, how adorable is this new blog? Kylie Bopp did an amazing job getting this off the ground and running. “The Ladies of Oak Lane” will be such a great resource to keep the community updated on all of the terrific philanthropic efforts of the Panhellenic community! I am excited to post the latest happenings of Tri Delta.

September and October have been busy months for us! After we participated in our first philanthropy of the year, Lambda Chi’s ‘Watermelon Bash’ for the North American Food Drive, we went on a Sunday “Sister Hike” to the Cascades. We enjoyed some fresh air, exercise, hilarious stories, and one of the last days of warm weather! A big thanks to Angela Tabb for organizing the hike- she’s an outdoorsy one, that’s for sure!

September 23-25, we had a beautiful Parents’ Weekend, organized by our Member Development Chair. We began the weekend with a dessert social at the house on Oak Lane for parents to see the “Dolphin Tank.” Sisters made delectable desserts to share, and our house furnishing chairwoman, Heather Hopkins, and our landscaping committee did a wonderful job making our house sparkle for the weekend.

Saturday was jam-packed with Parents’ Weekend activities – First, a Virginia Tech v. Marshall tailgate-inspired event at the Blacksburg Country Club, where dad’s battled in corn hole and ladderball, then, a banquet dinner at the German Club Manor that couldn’t have gone more smoothly. Wrapping up our weekend was a yummy Sunday farewell brunch. Phew!

We are thankful some of our sisters were able to partake in Greeks Giving Back amidst a very busy weekend. We’re especially proud a sister who served on GGB’s exec committee.

Rounding out the month of September, sister Jessica Arbogast organized “Up ‘til Dawn,” a letter-writing fundraising event for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Jess took initiative to bring this event to the Virginia Tech community for the first year ever, raising money and awareness for our very own worthwhile philanthropy.

Speaking of philanthropy –  our 5^th Annual “Flapjacks & Football” is coming October 11^th!  Look for my next post to feature our fun-filled week for St. Jude! Also, I’ll spotlight our mentoring program, “Linkous Ladies and Lads” with Sigma Chi and Gilbert Linkous Elementary School. Until then, Delta Love!

Senior Tri Delta's pose with their moms at Parents' Weekend