[erica812]

I did feel a little uncomfortable with how our organization was being portrayed. That's why I jumped in to clarify, but I think misscherrypie's feelings are normal. And she was just letting her thougths roll. I don't fault that.

Sister, your apology was very gracious.

I didn't realize Reno had a City Council. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!!!!! In a major metropolitan area, a City Council is going to have great events. They probably have a very formal Founder's Day event. They are likely to have a Valentine Ball. When I FV'd back in 2002, we didn't "join" the City Council, but we did attend their Founder's Day. It was SO inspiring to see the older sisters, and we made many positive contacts that way. You can learn so much.

You're going to have to decide what you really want, and I think even the BSP sisters who have volunteered to help you can see that BSP might never meet your expectations. That's okay. If you decide not to worry about campus recognition and just love the BSP experience, then you can relax about recruiting for a bit. As long as you have sent in your forms for seven founding sisters, you can move forward. Conduct your pledge ritual per International's design (it's lovely!), and then as you are developing your sisterhood and doing your pledge training, you can be gaining new members as you go.

ALL of my FV members came from word-of-mouth. We did do a table once, and we did not gain members that way. We were on a college campus, but we didn't try to affiliate with the university. We tried hard to never look like we were trying to compete with the campus Greeks, and I think it worked to our advantage.

I truly wish you the best, sister.