Philanthropy night?
 

Hi! I really want to run in the spring for recruitment chair for next year. Part of running involves submitting a detailed letter about how you would run rush the following year. I have alotof good ideas, but I'm kind of stuck on philanthropy night. We have to do a craft, but our chapter has changed crafts every year, and none have worked very well. I'm a Phi Mu, so our national philanthropy is the Children's Miracle Network. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Our campus has no frills recruitment, so it can't be something super elaborate, but I'd really appreciate your input!

Thanks!

The Phi Mu chapter on my campus has always done boo bunnies, the washcloth-type things that hold ice cubes for children to put on their arms where they have had IVs taken out. They're really easy to make, and I'm sure you can find directions online. You could also have them decorate little t-shirts to go on teddy bears for the children, or decorate picture frames for them. I've heard of chapters that put together goody baskets of art supplies for kids, too.

We always did BooBoo Bunnies too but our CMN hospital has stopped accepting them. They are risky because they can harbor bacteria :(

Our Philanthropy Night has a tropical theme. This year, we made sand art as our craft. These come in kits at craft stores, with the plastic shaped bottles and the different colors of layered sand. We put the sand in ketchup-type bottles to keep the mess to a minimum. Girls could also decorate the outside of the bottle with paint pens. They turned out very pretty. In my Recruitment survey (I'm the Membership Director), our new members LOVED the novelty and uniqueness of the craft, but had difficulty maintaining a conversation during its completion. However, this is a common complaint no matter what the craft is.

This year we started something new. We did "Courage Bracelets". They were foam bracelets with a lion face on them to go on the child's wrist with their hospital ID bracelet. They were fairly simple because we cut all of the pieces out of the foam and then had the PNM's glue them together.

Before that, we did painting on ceiling tiles. We got the drop in ceiling tiles from our local hospital and then had the PNM's paint all sorts of designs on them. There was usually a different theme each year.

The courage bracelets are a really good idea. Good job!