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I like the spirit your chapter is showing. Positive attitude and working together will get you through this rough spot. I have worked with chapters in this situation and my own chapter was in a terrible rut at one point, with numbers down to 22 and the other houses at 50, when we graduated a large class. Then, only 7 accepted our bids and quota was triple that. Heartbreaking. Even harder to bear was knowing that the recruitment chair for one of the other chapters went out on bid night and publicly smeared our house for having a small NM class compared to theirs. I kid you not-she was SINGING about it to all the fraternity guys.
It seemed insurmountable at the time and there was very little respect for Panhellenic rules on our campus, which made things even harder for us, and our campus sorority system was young. We did NOT give up, and neither should you. We just kept working at COB, to build upon our successes and in the meantime we worked even harder on strengthening our sisterhood. It took a while, I won't lie, and we some wonderful advisers to help us. But we turned it around and by the time I was a senior, we were a larger and much stronger chapter. We went from probation to winning national awards.
You have gotten some great suggestions from the other GCers. So work with that. Although you don't have to pull out all the stops, you can still do some theming to make it fun, special and welcoming for your guests. There may be women out there who did not go through FR and want something different from the experience the other chapters can offer. So try to emphasize the unique things about your house. Perhaps you have some great scholarship programs. Or you do a lot for each individual sister. Maybe there's something fabulous about your (inter)national GLO that makes you stand out. Now you will have more time to share your displays, your scrapbooks, and your videos and more one on one time with these women.
Those attributes might not have come across during FR when it was easy for PNMs to compare and say, hmmm-why do they have so few whereas the others have so many? I'm here to tell you-EVERY chapter out there, I don't care how big or invulnerable they might seem, is at risk for hitting a low point in membership, and it only takes about 1 or 2 recruitment cycles for disaster to hit. I have seen it happen--chapters with top reputations and great members tanking from 100 to 50. Climbing up the hill takes a while, so just hang in there. When you are at the top, you will be so empowered!
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