Thank you! I'll direct message you!

Then keep the Kappa ones and return the Pi Phi ones to their HQ. They will have a procedure for that.

Thank you!

We have badges on display at HQ. Some are used as honor pins and photographs of them are used in social media and in our magazine. Every so often, the badge disposition form appears in The Arrow. Older alumnae sometimes keep the form with their badge and the badges often come back attached to the form.

Typically, our displays do not identify the donor, although the name is in our acquisitions file.

I love this idea. If your grandmother came from humble beginnings, I am sure she would as well. As a chapter adviser, I have known several young ladies that could not afford to buy badges, and I was able to arrange to have one purchased for them. In some cases, these were previously owned badges that were returned to our national office under circumstances of death or disaffiliation. When presented with these badges, these young women seemed to treasure them even more than those that were purchased brand new. Our badges should be worn with pride by members and not melted down for the weight of their gold.

I bought a chapter guard from our HQ that had been on a returned pin. Was very proud to have it!

Eternallyyours, your grandmother's pins sound very special. I hope you might take some pictures and share them with us here! I am especially in love with opal badges!

^^^ The Pi Phi badge my daughter rescued in an opal badge. I will see if I can get generallygreek to post a picture in the badge thread.

This makes me wonder: new members must purchase a badge (order is placed before initiation), it's not optional, it must be done. Is this not the case in all NPC orgs?

Some groups include one in their initiation fees.

It's required for AEPhi. You must purchase a badge unless you are going to wear your sister's, mother's, or grandmother's badge. You cannot give away your badge while you're an active, so if your sister is still an active, you must buy your own badge.

If you've seen the "badge trends" thread, you've seen my not-infrequent complaints about how AEPhi badges cannot be customized. Letters in sequence, 27 pearls, gold bar, end of story - no opals, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, white gold, etc. But one nice thing about this is that, since no customization is allowed, we almost always had our new members' badges before initiation. The other sororities at my school did allow customization, so it took time to craft those badges - new initiates wore their big sisters' badges, sometimes for as long as a semester, until their own badges came in.

In the 80s, the cost of our badge was embedded in our initiation fee and it was compulsory. Today, sadly, it is an option. New members are initiated with their big sister's badges and given an order form to get their own. This takes time and some young women with financial difficulties never place that order, and therefore never own a badge. I don't know when this change took place but it saddens me when a young women tells me that she does not own a badge due to the cost. The most basic option is under $40. With the expense of membership, I strongly preferred the days that it was embedded into the initiation fees and every sister had one.

It is embedded in our dues! (I mean, it's a separate fee, but you must pay it before you initiate, and it's not overly expensive) I could see if only 14k gold or jewelled badges were your options, but a simple gold-plated badge should be required. A badge is such an important identifier of our vows and bond, I couldn't imagine not having my badge!

Just saw this on Ebay and think it's funny timing:

so sorry for your loss, she sounds like an amazing woman.

I am curious about how she came to own both Kappa and Pi Phi badges being a Pi Phi?