Corina,
Oh boy...I'm so sorry that you're having this experience. You sound frustrated and hurt.
I think you did good by telling them how you feel. Perhaps you should have held back on your emotion a bit and not had such an outburst. Nonetheless, I can see too that Wendy told you she felt uninformed and frustrated. Liz mentioned feeling uninformed also.
It sounds like all three of you are having trouble communicating. It's unclear to me if the original decisions were made during a meeting. If the group decided to get a certain type of flyer, then that needs to be honored. If the ladies in charge of the flyer production run into unexpected cost, they need to get permission from the group first.
Again, you made a good move by setting a boundary. You said that sorority things should be discussed at sorority meetings.
I agree that $100 for 5,000 shiny flyers is excessive. It doesn't matter if it's a "good deal." You won't need 5,000 flyers if 500 will do. On top of that, I don't see why they need to be such high quality. I don't know what kind of club/organization experience you all have, but I have LOADS of experience when it comes to these things. Regular copies on colored paper work just fine. You can get even more bang for your buck by making the flyer the size of a half sheet so that you can get two on one page.
If the total bank roll right now is $140 then, obviously, *very* frugal spending is key. Wendy makes the point that you'll have about $350 when upcoming dues are included. Well, you don't have that money *today* so I'd suggest against spending money you don't have.
Perhaps you can all come to a compromise. Ask this printer man what he can do for $50. Maybe he can make 2,500 shiney flyers instead. It's still too many, but at least the the other girls will get to have the flyers they want.
At the next meeting, you all might want to budget out *exact* amounts for *everything*. Wendy mentioned that pizza is $15 and soda $6...but don't forget the price of napkins, cups etc. The little things can sneak up on you if you don't pay attention.
Perhaps Liz and Wendy are very excited to finally be moving forward with the sorority and they just want to have the finer things now instead of later. I can understand how that feels. I just came back this evening from a visit to Ikea (one of my favorite stores!) and I wish I could buy everything in there. Unfortunately, I'm still on a college student budget. If I save now, I know I'll be able to buy nice things later when I get into my career. This applies to NBO as well. You ladies need to focus on the things which will help build a solid foundation for NBO - and perhaps for an NPC affiliation.
Finally, *stay positive.* Boy, this must be hard for you right now. I was once the President of a club where people just stared at me funny during meetings. I used to get really frustrated. After I graduated, people e-mailed me to say good-bye. Out of nowhere, they started telling me what a great President I had been and how I had done so much for the club. I was totally shocked. You see, your NBO sisters may not see what you're doing now (much like teenagers and parents!), but they'll come to understand it later on. And believe me, once you're gone, they'll wish that you'd still be there!
The keys here are: 1) Stay positive, stay focused. 2) Understand that responsible planning today builds for a solid tomorrow. It's nice to have nice things now, but that will result in your new members being poor as dirt next year. Would you want your little sisters to have to struggle? No! So don't be frivolous with resources. Take it one step at a time.
......Kelly
