Tri Delta raises money for national commitment

The Delta Delta Delta sorority at Southeast Missouri State University has spent its fall semester raising money for a charity that treats children with catastrophic diseases -- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

St. Jude, located in Memphis, Tenn., is the top children's cancer hospital in the U.S. in 2011, according to U.S. News & World Report.

"We do a lot of events to raise money for St. Jude, mainly just because we believe so much in what they do," said Sharon Dighero, philanthropy chair for Southeast's Tri Delta chapter.

Members of the sorority hosted Trick-or-Treat for Change on Oct. 30 to raise money for the charity.

"We handed out flyers the Thursday before letting them know to expect us coming by asking for donations, and then on that Sunday we went door to door asking for their donations," Dighero said.

The chapter raised $2,000 in the form of change, cash and checks from the Cape Girardeau community.

The first annual Delta House of Pancakes, or DHOP, was held Nov. 8. The all-you-can-eat pancake dinner took place at the campus Tri Delta house on Greek Hill and featured live music. Dighero said the chapter was able to raise $1,600 for St. Jude as well as Brody Gard, a boy the chapter sponsors.

"Brody Gard is a young, local boy with a very rare brain tumor who is being treated at St. Jude," Dighero said. "We have been fortunate enough to have the chance to get to know his dad pretty well and his situation. We are hoping with each year that passes we can get more and more involvement from the SEMO community with DHOP."

The last fundraiser for the semester was the St. Jude Give Thanks. Walk. that members of the sorority participated in on Nov. 19. They raised over $1,000.

Tri Delta will continue its fundraising into the spring semester.

"We have a philanthropic event every year called Frats at Bat," Dighero said. "It is usually in October but we changed it to the spring this year because of the weather."

Frats at Bat is a baseball tournament that fraternities pay an entrance fee to compete in.

"Next semester we are involving the SEMO and Cape Girardeau community so we can increase our amount raised," Dighero said.

Tri Delta will also be hosting an event called "Sincerely Yours" in the spring semester.

"All of our members bring 50 addresses and we send letters to them asking for donations," Dighero said. "We also involve the Greek community in this."

She said the event usually raises about $17,000.

All the money raised will be combined with the donations from Tri Delta chapters across the country and go toward funding the St. Jude C-Clinic.

"C-Clinic is the Specialty Clinic at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," senior event marketing representative for St. Jude and Tri Delta alumna from Elon University Krista Whalen said. "This clinic houses a broad range of different services for St. Jude patients. At some point during their care at St. Jude, each child will likely be referred to a clinic within the Specialty Clinic."

Tri Delta raised $3.5 million nationally last year for the children's hospital. Whalen said the sorority's goal is to raise $15 million in 5 years. This is the sorority's second year of the commitment.

"I can honestly say that every single woman that is in Tri Delta has a true passion for St. Jude, and when you get 90 of us all together it is amazing what we can do for this cause," Dighero said.