Search results matching tag 'philanthropy'

Butler + Drag Queens = Standing Room Only!

ChristinaL — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:52:00 GMT

Last Friday, Butler Gay Straight Alliance put on their second annual event. The first one took place while I was away from campus studying abroad, so I'm really glad I got to attend this year. Nine different acts of drag queens and kings took the stage for all sorts of performances from the Temptations to the Pussycat Dolls to Michael Jackson! The event was a fundraiser for the Damien Center's efforts to help people with HIV and AIDS, but instead of paying an entry fee, everyone brought $1 bills to donate as tips to their favorite performers! The Reilly Room in our student union was COMPLETELY packed, with tons of people standing all around the edges of the room, watching with excitment as the performers burst through a red glittery door to strut their stuff.

This is my friend Pat as a member of the winning "Bulldog Dolls" group. I'm kind of jealous that he makes such a pretty woman!

Check out a clip from the Bulldog Dolls winning dance!

I loved the fun costumes and performances, but what I loved the most was the way this event built community. I'm not sure what your high school was like, but mine had a few events every year that everyone really seemed to rally around. That was one of the things I loved most about high school - that sense of coming together - and because Butler is about the same size as my large suburban high school, many of our all-campus events have a similar feel. Because of the great turnout and incredibly diverse audience, Alliance's Drag Show was the most outstanding example of this that I have witnessed at Butler.

The performers were not just students - staff members also got involved, and the emcee was a real drag queen from Indy - Veronica Storme, Miss Gay Pride Indiana. I was really impressed to see not only veterans of last year's drag show on the stage, but also some new faces. 5 freshmen women from the marching band performed as the Village People in front of all their peers. I thought that was an incredibly brave thing to do in their first semester at BU!

Here's Veronica Storme, the hostess for the evening:

The judging panel included a history professor, the Dean of Students, a music professor, a young alumna who had been involved in Alliance before she graduated in '08, and a current student who is serving as the VP of Diversity for our Student Government Association. Obviously they had representation from pretty much every population at Butler.

The audience was most impressive to me, though. Everyone I know was talking about the drag show on Friday, and when I showed up, I saw friends of every sort. Gay friends, straight friends, Greek friends, independent friends,conservative friends, extremely liberal feminist friends, band friends, freshmen friends, senior friends, friends who live off campus. Even though it was 8 pm on a Friday evening, lots of faculty came, and some brought their kids. People from the community that work with GLBT organizations or groups like Planned Parenthood even showed up to support Alliance, and a local hair salon did all the hair and makeup for the show. I think that audience was a real representation of Butler students and the community that we live in, and that was a very cool feeling to have us all in one room.

Be sure to check out our Youtube page to see the fun finale and the standing ovation that all the performers got!

The best news is that for all their hard work, Alliance's 2009 Drag Show raised $1145.06 for the Damien Center, which fights HIV and AIDS and supports those affected by these diseases in the Indianapolis area. This was a big jump from the $800 Alliance raised last year, and as the faculty judges said, this shows how much more open, accepting and supportive of GLBTQ community members Butler has become over the years. I am so proud of all my friends who made this event happen and all my classmates who supported it! Hopefully this event will grow even more and continue to be a great fundraiser and community gathering in years to come. Congratulations on your success, Alliance!

Butler's Best Dance Crews

ChristinaL — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:06:00 GMT

One interesting college phenomenon is the lipsync. At Butler, we use this term on practically a weekly basis, and yet lipsyncs do not involve any singing or even mouthing the words. Butler's term "lipsync" is just another word for "group dance competition"- usually one that provides free weekend entertainment at events that raise money for a charity.

When I was a freshman, some of the fraternities hosted lipsyncs where the sororities would compete. In the last three years, this campus has gone lipsync crazy, and now nearly all the fraternities have a lipsync and the sororities have started adding their own lipsyncs for the men to duke it out. Sticking to gender stereotype, the women with the most intense, intricate, synchronized dance win, while all the guys need for a victory are some silly costumes and ridiculously humorous dance moves. Another change in the last three years is that the non Greek members of campus have joined in on the lipsync craze - Ross Hall and the Independent Council have also participated.

This weekend we had the first two lipsyncs of the year: Alpha Phi's Bounce for Beats Hearthrob competition and Lambda Chi Alpha's Watermelon Bust.

Bounce for Beats raises money for women's cardiac health. The Phi ladies jump on trampolines all day and ask for donations. For the Hearthrob competition, they give the guys a turn - they have to have at least one guy on the trampoline bouncing and they have to use heart-related music... which often = boy bands. This year, the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon won with a pretty ridiculous performance that included fireworks... that was a first. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of that, but here are some of the other guys dancing, and you can see the big crowd of people that showed up to supoort Alpha Phi's philanthropy.

On Saturday, Lambda hosted their annual watermelon-themed event to raise money for the North American Food Drive. I didn't get to stay for all the lipsyncs, but I did enjoy the humor of Pi Phi's dance, choreographed entirely to Biggie music to bring out the inner gangsta in all of us, I guess. My sisters crack me up. I applaud them for taking down the gender stereotypes and showing that women can be just as silly and fun as the guys!

Oh lipsyncs... They are definitely one of those Butler traditions that seem like a such a normal part of life until you stop to think and realize how weird they are.

Deep in the Heart of Friendship

ChristinaL — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:38:00 GMT

Well, I am back in Indiana... temporarily! We finished up with the conference on Monday night and spent Tuesday sightseeing and traveling home... I already wasn't feeling too good, and when I woke up in my own bed on Wednesday morning, I was definitely sick! I had to take a day off and rest up, because I have just been doing too much traveling recently. But, now that I'm feeling better, let me give you a recap:

The last day of the convention was so much fun and full of surprises and special guests.

We had tons of great speakers that day!

In the morning, US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson - a Pi Beta Phi alum from University of Texas - came to speak to us! She is the only female senator ever to be from Texas, and when she joined the Senate, was one of only seven women. She talked about the importance of having women well represented in every aspect of society. Her speech was a great introduction to the two other Pi Phi alumnae who received member of distinction awards - one is a noted journalist who is the editor of an African American newspaper in NYC, and the other is a doctor at Johns Hopkins.

The day also had a strong focus on philanthropy. Pi Phi supports literacy, and we partner with First Book, a national non-profit that donates books to low-income children and schools. Kyle Zimmer, president of First Book, came to speak to us at the convention. She talked about all the excuses that people give for why they can't make a difference... and then gave examples of women throughout history who have proven those excuses wrong! She is such an intelligent, funny and passionate woman - I really admire her and LOVE her organization! I am so glad that we support it and I was thrilled to see Pi Beta Phi present First Book with $240,000 on Monday!!

We also gave $10,000 to The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation (TAKE), which was very emotional. Ali Kemp was a Pi Phi from Kansas who was murdered a few years ago. Her parents started a foundation that teaches women and girls self-defense techniques so that deaths like Ali's can be prevented in the future. We had the chance to go through the TAKE training on Monday and learn some moves! It was definitely a great experience and something that I think all women should go through... not to mention it was fun practicing my defense moves on my friend Erikaa! : )

The last part of the evening was the Wine Carnation Banquet, when the fraternity awards are given out and the outgoing national officers speak about one another. It was so sweet to hear about the friendship that our national officers have shared together. All in all, the day showed that Pi Phi is about making a sincere difference in society with our volunteer work and our fundraising... but it's also about the connections and friendships we create with one another along that jouney.

On Tuesday, the convention was all over and so we had some time to get out of the bubble of our hotel. The Gaylord Texan, where we stayed, was massive and included its own versions of some Texas highlights including the facade of the Alamo and a faux San-Antonio-style riverwalk!

But, we wanted to see some of the "real" Texas, so we ventured to the nearby downtown of Grapevine. I think some of its historical Texas charm has been amped up for tourism, but it was so stereotypically Texan that we had fun with it!

Of course, every cowboy town's gotta have a jail for the outlaws:

Overall, it was an amazing trip. I learned so much and feel inspired and ready to help lead my chapter in my last year at Butler. I am so proud to wear the Golden Arrow of Pi Beta Phi!

IN Gamma <3

Extreme Home Makeover: Indianapolis Edition!

ChristinaL — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:05:00 GMT

If you weren't watching ABC tonight, you might not know that the series finale of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featured my adopted home, Indianapolis, and our very own Butler University! What an emotional episode.

I don't think anyone could watch that show and not be moved by the story of the McFarlands, a family of a single dad and three teenage boys who live in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis. Mr. McFarland organizes a community group for the local kids (Pack 2000) in this neighborhood which needs as much support as it can get - as demonstrated by their deteriorating home. Estridge Homes built the family a fabulous new house and a library for Pack 2000 - all in one week!

Here you can see a fast-motion video of the 24/7 construction process:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

It was so great to see people who have given so much of themselves to the community receive some of the comforts of home many of us take for granted. Yes, the house with all its gadgets is a little over the top, but this is television, and it's all product placement anyway.

So, where does Butler come in? Well, to begin with, tons of our students volunteered at this event. Building a house and fixing up the surrounding area in one week takes nonstop work, and many Bulldogs used their late night college lifestyle for a good cause, taking on the 10 pm - 6 am volunteer shift. We also hosted an auction at Hinkle Fieldhouse which raised more money for the project - yep, Ty Pennington and team were right here on campus!

But, the part that I am most excited about is that the three McFarland boys have been offered full ride scholarships to Butler. It was so cool to hear this being explained on the show (to people across the nation... HEY great publicity!) and see how excited Mr. McFarland was that he doesn't have to worry about college for his kids. I also know that the Education Dept at BU has offered to give the boys any academic support they need to prepare them for Butler. One of the boys wants to be a news producer for TV, so I think that he should shadow my housemate Meg. She is going to be a Butler senior Media Arts & Journalism student and is spending the summer interning and looking at production behind the scenes at WISH TV this summer! : )

At this moment, the episode is not yet up on ABC.com, but if you didn't see it, I really encourage you to watch the episode once it is posted. It really shows the spirit of Indianapolis and our community. I was actually just volunteering in Martindale Brightwood at a youth camp on Thursday, and it is SO cool to see how many people are devoting themselves to improving this neighborhood.... it's not just an act that Indy puts on for tv. Yesterday my friend Ryan and I were talking about what makes Indy special. Ryan has a masters degree in non-profit management and works with some of the city's biggest donors through the Central Indiana Community Foundation. He thinks that Indy is a really philanthropic city, and I think we are also a community very passionate about volunteer work. This means we are not only improving our city everyday, but we're becoming closer in the process.

I was so proud to be from Butler and especially Indianapolis tonight. Welcome to the Bulldog family, McFarlands! To all my non-Indy readers: you don't know what you're missing! This is a not just a town; it's a community, and tonight we showed that to the nation. YAY Indy!

Swingin' Serenades with Phi Delt

ChristinaL — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:51:00 GMT

Quick post today - I just have to share this video I took at our serenades tonight!

Serenades are a Greek life tradition at Butler. During the week of each house's philanthropy event, we go around to the other houses and sing a popular song with lyrics changed to be about Butler and the charity that we support. Tonight, Pi Beta Phi went to all the fraternities to promote our spring philanthropy event, Swing Into Spring (which is TOMORROW, Butler people - please come to our cookout and lipsync/king contest at 5 pm!), and the men of Phi Delta Theta blew us away with this awesome "sing back" they had prepared for us.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Phi Delt is the oldest fraternity at BU and the chapter was chartered in 1859. They took a brief hiatus for the last few years, so this is their first year back on campus in a while, but as you can tell from the video, obviously the guys are awesome! In addition to this great performance, they also gave a few of our exec members a tour of their house tonight. The house was shut down a few years ago when the chapter closed, and so they are going through massive renovations to bring it up to date. It was built in the 1920s and basically looks like a castle.

Here's an old picture I found on the web:

Anyway, it is not quite done yet, but they have made so much progress on the construction, and when it is done in July, it will be GORGEOUS! It is also going to be a totally dry fraternity house, so it should be a great place to hang out for some alcohol-free weekend fun next year. I am especially excited because so many of my friends that weren't Greek before have joined this house. Nate, my best friend from our study abroad program in Spain, will be their president! I'm so excited for him. The opportunity to help bring back one of Butler's oldest traditions is truly an honor. I might go to their reinstallation ceremony on Sunday, so if I do, I'll let you guys know all about it and hopefully get some pictures of the house.

The Greek community is so glad to have you back, Phi Delt - thanks for the serenade! I hope to see everyone tomorrow at Pi Phi at 5 pm for our cookout, lipsync and king contest to benefit literacy efforts and First Book. Food is $5 and we will have Qdoba and Marcos... you don't want to miss it!

TRIKE 09... It's for the kids!

SarahG — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:20:00 GMT

A carnival complete with mini-horses, cornhole competitions, a dunk tank, pageant queens, and college kids racing around on big tricycles can only mean one thing... TRIKE 2009. Delt's annual Spring philanthropy was held on Saturday, along with other events all throughout the week. What's cool about greek philathropy events at Butler is that the whole community is invited to come out and support the hosting house. Not only are the activites really fun, but they encourage people to step out and mingle with other BU greeks and students. And of course it's for a good cause! The guys at Delt raised money for Riley Children's Hospital in downtown Indy. Let me tell you, it's endearing to see a group of "frat boys" work so passionately for those kids... they even visited the hospital last week to interact with the patients! In total, around $16,000 was collected through donations, t-shirt sales, new member "auctions", give-back dinners, etc... Pretty cool if you ask me!

Alpha Phi's "Phiesta" was also last week! The girls hosted a soccer tournament with pairings of greek houses and served a mexican-themed dinner. Moral of the post: philanthropy events are by far one of my favorite things about BU greek life. Having fun and giving back... what could be better than that?

TRIKE!

Playing with the mini horses

Trike race

Theta's banner

Annie, our queen contestant, rocking the pageant!

Where Dreams Come True

ChristinaL — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:04:00 GMT

Many of you reading this are probably thinking about the two biggest decisions of senior year in high school: what college to go to... and what your prom plans will be! I talk a lot about the first decision, but today let's talk about PROM.

As you all probably know quite well, prom can be a rather expensive ordeal. Not everyone can afford that - especially not in these tough economic times - but everyone deserves to be part of an all-school event celebrating your high school career. To solve that problem in Indianapolis, we have an amazing non-profit called Cinderella's Closet which collects gently used prom dresses and tuxedos so that teens without the economic means to buy their own formal attire can go to prom.

In my role as VP Education for Panhel, I organized a formal clothing drive. It was primarily targeted to the sororities, but we also got donations from the residence halls and a number of professors. All in all, we collected at least 75 dresses! Last week, I took all the donations over there (they filled up almost all of my Dodge Neon!) and there were so many it took me two hours to help Pam, the mastermind behind Cinderella's Closet, hang up and sort all of the Butler donations.

It was a lot of fun, because the day I went was a Try On Day, so there were actually teens in the "Closet" trying on formal wear, and I got to help them pick out what they will be wearing to prom. It was so cool to see the look on their faces when they felt handsome or beautiful! The whole program is really inspring, especially because Pam makes a deal with all the teens that someday down the road, they wil pay it forward andl help out someone else in need.

YOU can hear this directly from Pam, and see some of the kids who came in that day... much to my surprise, a news crew from Channel 6 showed up to do a story on Cinderella's Closet. They give a great shoutout to Butler, and you can even see me duck by the camera a few times. There's also a shot of me taking photos of one of the girls as she modeled her prom dress. Check out my photos below, or better yet, go watch the Channel 6 Cinderella's Closet news story and see for yourself!

Thanks to everyone at Butler who helped out! I am so proud to be from a campus that is committed to giving back to the community - organizations like Cinderella's Closet count on our annual support and Pam told me how much she loves working with Butler students. If you're in the Indy area and would like to donate or volunteer, please comment or message me and I will connect you to Cinderella's Closet! They are always looking for more donations and it would mean so much to the students who use them.

Happy Prom Season, everyone! Be safe... and look fabulous! : )

SB'09 and the beginning of the end

SarahG — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:04:00 GMT

As promised, here are some pictures from Spring Break last week! I wanted you all to see just how amazing my trip was!

Gorgeous view from our hotel

Thetas on the beach

Maybe around half of the BU people... hence the acquired name "Fort Butlerdale" haha

Sisters after dinner!

As great as my break was, don't get too jealous of these pictures... I'm currently back at BU and facing what may prove to be the busiest seven weeks of my academic career... fantastic. On the plus side, they may be the busiest seven weeks of my social calendar as well! With Relay for Life, formals, Spring Sports, Parents' Day, numerous philanthropies, and much more... at least I'll be rounding out the semester in style!

Theta Grill Off Video!

SarahG — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:18:00 GMT

Check out my video from Grill Off this weekend! :)

PS: If you want to see the full Phi Psi cheer, head over to Joe's blog - it's absolutely hilarious! (I take full credit for the screaming at the end, haha!)

Peace, Love, and CASA

SarahG — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:54:00 GMT

On Friday afternoon my sorority had its fall philanthropy event, Theta Grill Off! This event is held every year to raise money for our national charity, Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA. CASA is an organization that uses trained volunteers to speak for abused and neglected children in court. The program was created in 1977 and has grown into a network of over 59,000 volunteers today, giving their time to help around 243,000 children (www.nationalcasa.org). Theta's all over the nation raise money for this cause, and it's great to know that our chapter is helping to make a difference.

Although the purpose of Grill Off is obviously to raise money for CASA, we have a ton of fun putting everything together as well! Throughout the week we were busy selling baked goods and t-shirts, serenading the fraternities, and making posters and flyers to hang around campus. Friday afternoon consisted of a softball tournament, enjoying some burgers and hot dogs, watching the fraternities perform their cheers (hilarious!), and a concert by Kelley James later that night! We had an awesome turn-out from the members of other greek houses and the rest of campus in general, despite the nasty rain and humidity, and everyone who came had a good time. Although the week was a bit hectic and stressful, it was totally worth it to see everything come together and to support the kids of CASA!

I'm posting some pictures from the event for you all to see, but I also took some video footage throughout the day, so be on the lookout for that soon!

Peace, Love, and CASA

Hanging out beforehand

Cheer competition

The champions - Phi Psi!

Theta pride

Kelley James concert!