Parent Clubs
 

Just got back from VLS and during one of the training sessions they briefly talked about asking not only alumnae for help but parents as well. The parents from the chapter I advise love to attend things and help out in any capacity so I am thinking of implementing this for the upcoming school year. However, I'm a bit stuck on things they can help out with. Besides recruitment and parents weekend/mothers day pinning/father-daughter days, I was wondering if anyone else had ideas.

Do any of your chapters do this? How do you have it set up? How many parents are involved?

Any and all help would be great! Thanks sisters!

Sadly we can't seem to get one up and running, but I have a cousin who was active for her daughter's sorority at KU. They would bring snacks over during finals and their equivalents of Spirit Week and after MSS. Since the Chapter didn't serve meals on Sundays, the mothers would take turns making casseroles and bring them over to the house. Once a semester they would rent a massive wide screen TV and host a movie night. They'd bring over ice cream on a random unexpected night. These parents seemed to focus on food mostly, but the girls loved them for that.

You can treat them as alumnae in the non-ritual sense--
* Send a newsletter out
* Solicit volunteers to support recruitment, philanthropy, material and monetary donations
* Family mixers including recruitment skit preview, Parent's Weekend, etc. (Maybe do Daddy-Daughter Bowling, "King for a Day" with ADPi Dads, Mother-Daughter Lunch or Brunch, etc.)
* Yahoo! E-Groups emails
* Support the AI program and bring the moms into ADPi to see if there is a non-Greek ADPi mom out there who might make a great ADPi sister
* When a sister has a great academic year, send a letter home to mom and dad to congratulate them, too.
* Send home December holiday cards

Keep doing all the great things you are doing now. Just as with alumnae events, whenever the chapter achieves something great or is in need, or they are planning an upcoming event, think about how to incorporate the parents. As long as you are in reasonable communication with their parents, you're doing the job of promoting ADPi as a fun, safe and worthwhile activity for their daughters. Today's parents tend to be "helicopter parents" and want to be very involved with their children's lives past the normal threshold. If you throw them a bone here and there, you can keep the parents at bay, do your jobs as a chapter and keep them delighted, too.

[QUOTE=adpiucf]
When a sister has a great academic year, send a letter home to mom and dad to congratulate them, too.
QUOTE]

GREAT idea! Many parents are paying for their daughter's sorority expenses, and this is a wonderful way both to "thank" them, and to let them know that academics are important to ADPi!

One chapter I have worked with had a parent's club with officers etc- they would meet annually on parent's weekend and coordinate a wishlist of items that the chapter needed- big items usually. Then the chapter would send a letter in the spring to the parents asking for money to replenish the funds.
Also Parent's Club organized flowers to be sent to the women graduating or the new members in oder to recruit more new parent's. This idea can work but definitely takes some organized parent's to help start it.