Stories of Sisterhood

[AKA_Monet]

Yesterday, as of June 16, 2007 and a long year of planning, my city culminated with the 2007 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. My sorors and I sat on the Race Planning Committee and worked Registration and Survivor's Breakfast.

It was a lot of work, such as getting up at 4 AM and staying around until 2 PM.

Here are some pictures below:



and



I am truly happy as a result. Good idea!

[SWTXBelle]

That is great! Y'all rock!

[AOIIalum]

I love these types of stories! AKA_Monet, congrats on a great event and gorgeous pictures. Same goes to the Gamma Phis at Tyler, because if that isn't living your ideals I don't know what is.

As for me, I was hit by an drunk driver while I was in college. The driver was older and not a student. Luckily, I was only in the hospital for a week but spent the next few years recovering and going through various surgeries and so on. As soon as my sisters heard about the accident, they came in and decorated my hospital room with get well posters, AOII letters, and pandas and roses *everywhere*. In addition, a lot of my friends in other sororities came in and did the same, so my room was not only AOII but Panhellenically decorated!

Virtually my entire chapter came to the hospital on Sunday afternoon after Canoe Regatta (a big intramural thing at my school). My parents, who never really “got” the whole sorority thing, were so impressed to see such an outpouring of love and support from AOII. Same goes for the guy I was barely starting to date at the time (now my DH). Even 20+ years later my mom still comments about how the AOIIs supported me during that time.

[AKA_Monet]

More pictures posted here

Oh, we worked closely with the ladies of Zeta Tau Alpha alumni and undergraduate; as well as the ladies of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

[SWTXBelle]

Glad everything worked out for you, AOIIalum - and how wonderful to have the support of not only your AOII sisters, but the Panhellenic community!
I hope PNMs read these stories - it is often so hard to portray the strength of our sisterhoods.

[KSUViolet06]

My chapter moved into a new house in fall of 2005.

We were pretty excited to be in our new house, mainly because of the dramatic staircase in the foyer. It was really beautiful, but it was also hardwood and slippery.

That summer was hectic because all of our House Tours party plans were made for our old house. So we were working twice as hard during Refinement Week to basically put together a whole new party to fit the new house.

This particular day, we'd all been up since 8am trying to work on the line up for House Tours. We were trying to figure out how to arrange girls on the top of the staircase.

Background: I have CP, so I am extremely accident prone.

My Big asked if I wanted to just stand on the bottom, but I'm stubborn, so I insisted that I could line up at the top like everyone else. I made it up to the top just fine. But while I was standing up there, I sneezed, slipped and tumbled all the way down (that's 25 hardwood stairs folks)!

When I hit the bottom, I was so shocked that I didn't move, but I remember mumbling that I was fine. Over their screams of "Oh My God", I guess no one heard me. Before I could attempt to get up, my Big and 2 other girls were like "DON'T MOVE". They picked me up, put me in a car, and drove me to the ER.

I figured that the rest of the girls would stay behind and finish working on recruitment since classes started the next day. Nope. Everybody got in their cars behind us and came to the hospital too.

I was in the ER pretty much all day waiting, getting x-rays and making sure nothing was broken and was pretty sore and miserable. They all stayed as long as they could (before the hospital told some of them to leave). It was nice to know that I had them to hold my hand and take my mind off of the annoyance and misery of being in the ER. I remeber a nurse telling me "Wow, those girls sure do care alot about you to stay here all day."

I ended up with a few stitches and sprains-nothing major. The Dr said it could've been WAY worse.

I was released later at night and they ALL came with my Big to come pick me up. Over the next couple of days, I had plenty of phone calls, texts, and dorm visits to see how I was doing.

When you talk about sisterhood, that's one of the days that sticks out in my mnd.

[Hopeful_Bubbles]

I love stories like these! Makes me glad I've decided to throw my hand in in recruitment.

[AGDee]

I have so many stories because every time I have gone through a difficult time in my life, my sisters have been there for me. From the time my dad had a heart attack while I was in college to sisters getting me through two divorces. My sisters were so helpful and supportive last year while my mom was in the hospital. When I've sent out messages on a listserv for recommendations for personal care aides from my mom, I have always had offers of help. When I was very sick and needed surgery, which meant 8 weeks off work at 60% of my pay, as a single mom, I received a SIS grant from our Foundation which helped pay the mortgage. So, my sisters have always been there for me.

There is one time I was especially touched as a collegian. One of our sisters suddenly had to support herself completely because her father was laid off. She was working almost 40 hours a week and going to school full time and thought she was going to have to terminate her membership because she couldn't afford the dues. Well, we weren't having that, so we each chipped in a few dollars every month (our dues were only $24 back then, but heck, minimum wage was $3.35 an hour!) and paid her dues for the duration of that school year. She was able to work enough over the summer to cover things better the next year and resumed paying her own dues. I was really touched by how the whole chapter reached out to her during her tough time.

[SoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Are these alumnae or undergraduates? When I first saw it my thought was along the lines of "Those junior high girls are gonna get a beat down!" Then I realized if you're posting it they're not perps. They look sooooo young!

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

Are these alumnae or undergraduates? When I first saw it my thought was along the lines of "Those junior high girls are gonna get a beat down!" Then I realized if you're posting it they're not perps. They look sooooo young!

Yes, these undergraduates are sooooooo young to me... Ironically, some of their mothers are my age. They do attend the State colleges in the area.




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My story: My linesister (a girl in my "pledge class") is my "Back" (the girl who walked behind me while we walking in a straight line/queue) had lost contact over the years. But, last year, she found me and emailed me to say she will "always have my back!"

I know. But that's my story.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Yes, these undergraduates are sooooooo young to me... Ironically, some of their mothers are my age. They do attend the State colleges in the area.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

My story: My linesister (a girl in my "pledge class") is my "Back" (the girl who walked behind me while we walking in a straight line/queue) had lost contact over the years. But, last year, she found me and emailed me to say she will "always have my back!"

I know. But that's my story.

I liked the subtitles for the NPHC impaired. Sincerely, I thought it was thoughtful of you to include the additional explanations.

And it can be really powerful to be reminded that the close relationships you had can carry over in the present even when you have been out of touch.

I can't think of any stories with the depth of the ones here, but they are definitely inspirational.

[Ilaria Ame]

these stories are beautiful! mine is that while i was in the beginning of my intake process, my grandmother died. i was upset but not devestated, so i tried to minimize the situation to my dean and not miss our meetings the weekend of the funeral. **a little background: we were an expansion group, so weekends were the ONLY meetings we had. i lived far away, so i would have missed the entire weekend and was terrified that i would be dropped for it** however, when i told her what had happened, she didn't want to hear anything about not going--she made me realize that even though sorors were hard on us during our process, they cared about our physical and emotional well-being more than anything. the day of the funeral, i got a zillion text messages and calls from sorors that i'd never even spoken to before, much less met, expressing their sympathy and asking how i was doing. it was perfectly timed because i was feeling like there was no way i could catch up, and all of it just reinforced to me that this was a group of women i HAD to be a part of, no matter how hard our process got. and i did!

[CutiePie2000]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

It was a lot of work, such as getting up at 4 AM and staying around until 2 PM.

Great job! I am impressed with your dedication & commitment, because I must admit, on the weekends,
I <3 sleeping! You did GOOD!