March 3: International Badge Day

Join Supreme Council and the Foundation Board of Directors in celebrating International Badge Day on Monday, March 3 by wearing your badge with pride! The Fraternity released this message to our membership:

Celebrate International Badge Day March 3

Show Your Greek Pride!

Elkridge,Md. - Phi Sigma Sigma invites collegiate and alumnae members alike to celebrate International Badge Day by wearing their Sphinxhead badges with pride on Monday, March 3.

The Sphinxhead binds us all to Phi Sigma Sigma and the entire Greek community, including the 25 other member organizations of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), which sponsors International Badge Day each year.

"This is a great way to promote Greek sisterhood and the pursuit of professional and personal excellence among women," said Josette George Kaufman, Phi Sigma Sigma's NPC delegate and a past grand archon. "Thousands of women worldwide will be showing their Greek pride by wearing their badges, and we encourage everyone to participate."

This year's theme is "Wear Your Badge with Pride." A commemorative poster can be downloaded here.

The National Panhellenic Conference provides support and guidance for member inter/national sororities/women's fraternities and serves as the national voice on contemporary issues of sorority life. Founded in 1902, NPC is one of the oldest and largest women's membership organizations, representing more than 3.9 million women at 655 college/university campuses and 4,500 local alumnae chapters in the United States and Canada.

Newark Leadership Conference Photos!

Check Out All the Fun from Baltimore!

Live from Newark Leadership Conference...

A big thanks goes out to Katie from our Zeta Theta chapter for blogging for the Foundation last night. As you can tell, we are off to a great start! Check back for more details and more pictures soon!

Hello, my name is Katie and I am the Archon for the Zeta Theta chapter at Fairleigh Dickinson. This weekend I have the pleasure of attending the Leadership Conference for Communities 2 and 3 at the Newark Hilton. I am excited to meet up with Phi Sigs from our area and talk about our experiences. I also want to take this opportunity to bond with our new E-Board and create goals on how to improve our chapter. I think that these conferences are a great tool that each chapter should utilize. Leaving this conference I hope to have new insight on how to improve chapter motivation, improve sisterhood, become more efficient and Aim High in all that we do. I hope that my executive board leaves more motivated than ever and we can share this with the chapter.

I love being a Phi Sig and everything that it stands for. I truly believe in our core values and pride myself on upholding the ideals of Phi Sigma Sigma. I am thankful for everything Phi Sig has given me. Sisters, family, personal growth, leadership skills and opportunities that I would not have otherwise. I could not do half of what I do alone. I know that my sisters and CKA will always be there for me.

To sum it all up...Yay for Foundation!...Yay for Phi Sigma Sigma. I encourage everyone to take up every opportunity given to them from Foundation and Phi Sigma Sigma.

Baltimore Leadership Conference

The Foundation had an amazing time in Baltimore this weekend! Thank you to the wonderful sisters in Communities 5 & 6 who helped to make the weekend so special.

Check back to this blog often to see the Baltimore pictures posted. We'll continue the great tradition we started last year of posting photos from the weekend on our blog. Who knows, maybe you'll be a blog star!

The Foundation is delighted to attend all 5 leadership conference and we are looking forward to Newark, LA, Chicago and Albany coming soon!

Greetings from Baltimore

Hi Everyone!

We are having a FABULOUS experience here at the Baltimore Leadership Conference. We are having a wonderful time meeting collegiate and alumnae sisters from Communities 5 and 6. The Foundation board hosted a "Laughter and Learning" luncheon with all of our alumnae in attendance. The silent auction, raffle and live auction are creating quite a buzz! Our sisters are doing an amazing job of supporting the Foundation's commitment to the NKF transplant games by purchasing Phi Sigma Sigma Transplant Game pins. With each pin purchased, a pin is donated to a Transplant Game athlete. We're almost at our goal of 100 pins donated at this conference! We'll keep you posted......

Candace, Heather and Stef

2008 Scholarship and Educational Grant Application Now Available!

The Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation is pleased to share the 2008 scholarship and grant application with our collegiate or alumnae sisters who continue to pursue their undergraduate or graduate education. Please visit our website at http://www.phisigmasigmafoundation.org/apply-scholarship.htm to download an application. Applications must be postmarked by APRIL 10, 2008. Questions? E-mail us at foundation@phisigmasigma.org.

Aiming Higher at the Leadership Conferences!

We’re back! The Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation is pleased to host a very special Saturday night dinner auction during each of the 2008 Leadership Conferences (LCs). At last year’s LCs, generous members enabled the Foundation to raise over $45,000 for vital leadership programming, scholarships and grants, and funding for the National Kidney Foundation and Kidney Foundation of Canada.

The Foundation board of directors cordially invites you to join us, and fellow collegiate and alumnae sisters, in celebrating the Foundation’s vision during the 2008 LCs. Here’s how!

Donate an Auction Item
We would love to acknowledge you, our alumnae sisters and our chapters, as generous Foundation donors when you contribute a gift to be auctioned during the evening. Great ideas from previous auctions include:

• Items used during ritual (candlesticks, vase, bible cover, gavel, ritual table cloth, etc.)
  
• A basket celebrating your state or chapter theme (California Dreamin’, New York Big Apple, Fun in the Sun, Chocolate Lover, etc.)
  
• Phi Sigma Sigma items handmade by your chapter (recruitment banner, scrapbook cover,
  etc.)
  
• Think BIG! (Airline tickets, hotel stays, show tickets, concert tickets, vacations, etc.)
  

Want more ideas? Write us at foundation@phisigmasigma.org. With your help and your bids, the dinner auction will continue to be a highlight of the conference!

Participate in the Raffle
Buy chances to win fabulous merchandise in the Foundation Raffle. Tickets are available Friday night and all day Saturday. We invite alumnae to bring a $10 wrapped gift for use as one of our wonderful raffle prizes!

Share Your “Heart”
One of our most treasured traditions during Fraternity conclaves is “Heart to Hearts,” a unique way for you to send a special sentiment of friendship or thanks to an attending sister. The recipient of a Heart receives a card which includes your personal message. She also receives a double heart appliqué to wear on her nametag during the conference.

Join the Rosebud Society
Here’s a unique and easy opportunity for collegians to begin a lifetime of Foundation giving!

Rosebud Society members pledge a gift total of $75 payable over three years ($20, $25, and $30, respectively). When her first payment is received, the sister receives a lapel pin signifying her membership. When she fulfills the $75, she receives her first lifetime rose level pin.

We invite all LC attendees to join the Rosebud Society. With your first contribution of $20 at the conference, you will receive your rosebud pin immediately to proudly display your support for the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation.

Thanks for choosing one or more of these special ways to support your Foundation during the 2008 LCs. We can’t wait to see you!

Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation Featured on Transplant Games Website!

Check out the Transplant Games website to see the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation listed as one of the premiere sponsors for the 2008 Games in Pittsburgh! The Foundation is thrilled to once again be a top sponsor of the Games.

More information about our participation in the Games, including how to sign up as a volunteer, will be announced during the Leadership Conferences and on our website very soon. Stay tuned!

You can check out the Transplant Game's website at http://www.transplantgames.com/.

Leadership Conferences...Here we come!

The Foundation is thrilled to once again participate in the Leadership Conferences being held all across North America! We are hard at work planning another dynamic dinner and auction for our collegians, volunteers and treasured donors.

The Leadership Conference schedule is as follows:

• February 1-3, Baltimore
• February 8-10, Newark
• February 22-24, Los Angeles
• March 28-30, Chicago
• April 4-6, Albany

For more information, please log onto the Phi Sigs only section of the Fraternity's website at http://www.phisigmasigma.org.

Foundation to be featured on GoodSearch.com this Sunday!

That's right! The Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation has been selected from over 51,000 non-profit organizations to appear on GoodSearch.com's homepage on January 13 - complete with our logo and a link to our Web site. We'll be joining non-profits like the American Cancer Society, Alzheimer's Association, and World Wildlife Fund.

As you may know, GoodSearch.com is a search engine that donates about a penny per search to charities its users designate (like the Foundation!). Those pennies add up quickly to hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. (Just 500 of us searching four times a day will earn the Foundation about $7,300 a year! So, be sure to spread the word.)

It's easy to use: Go to www.goodsearch.com and enter Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation as the charity you want to support.

You can also help Phi Sigma Sigma at GoodShop.com. This "on-line shopping mall" donates a percentage of each purchase to us. Since GoodShop.com links you directly to a retailer's website, your coupons and promotions still apply. Hundreds of great stores including Target, Gap, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Macy's and eBay have teamed up with GoodShop. Everytime you place an order, you'll be supporting our sisterhood!

You can use GoodSearch.com and GoodShop.com every day, but we hope you'll take the extra step to find us on the GoodSearch.com homepage this Sunday, January 13!!

Great News for the End of the Year

Thank you to all of our faithful GoodSearch.com and GoodShop.com users. Because of your tremendous loyalty, the Foundation received over $500 from GoodSearch.com this year alone! This is a phenomenal achievement and we are setting out sights high again next year. Let's make 2008 another record breaker!

Thank You to Our Amazing Founders' Day Donors!

Click on the "Play" button to hear Kim Hildred, Foundation President, and Sandy Grossman, Grand Archon personally thank our amazing donors!

Epsilon Rho is Making A Difference!

Thank you to our Epsilon Rho sisters at York College who wrote to the Foundation to tell us about their outstanding service projects that celebrated Make A Difference Day. Sharee, the chapter's Philanthropy Chair, wrote to tell us:

This year's Make A Difference Day (MADD) was especially important to us because we were able to help the National Kidney Foundation which, as you know, is supported by the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation!

On October 27th we participated in our Campus Adopt-a-Block, which was organized to help clean the college community. However, the day after, we participated in the NKF's annual walk in Lancaster, Pa. Even though the walk was a day after MADD, we know we made a difference on that day especially. Sisters volunteered from 8:30 am, until 1:30 pm, registering walkers, handing out give-a-ways, distributing food and prizes, and much more. We showed up full force and wanted to give the coordinators a break, therefore we let them know we were at their every beck and call!

We had a great time, the walk was great, and we also had the chance to meet our sisters from West Chester University!

Thank you to all of our sisters who took the opportunity to participate in Make a Difference Day - an international day of service!

Exciting Times at Delta Iota

Our Delta Iota chapter at Central Michigan University has had a busy November and December! Thank you to the chapter sisters who wrote to the Foundation to tell us all about their wonderful accomplishments!

From Mr. Phi Significant to selling Candy Grams and building can-castles, this past month was filled with philanthropic events for the Delta Iota chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma! Sisters came together with their support and help in these events.

Mr. Phi Significant is an annual fun-filled event where men compete in various competitions to find out who has what it takes to be crowned Mr. Phi Significant. A great deal of planning and preparations are done for this event by our chapter and we reaped the rewards this year! Raising just under $1000 for the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation was extremely rewarding upon completion of the event!

Our chapter also decided to create a new fundraising event for our philanthropy this semester. Several weeks before the holiday season, Delta Iota sold Candy Grams on-campus. This philanthropic event was not only enjoyed by those receiving Candy Grams, but also by the sisters who sold them!

Another new event that Delta Iota recently participated in was the Panhellenic Can-Castle Competition. Numerous sororities gathered on a Sunday afternoon to construct a can castle. Our chapter thought outside of the box and constructed a Christmas tree with 200 canned goods. We were also able to use one prop, which consisted of Christmas tree lights. Our chapter took first place in the competition due what the judges noted as creativity allowing us to receive $100 towards the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation! Delta Iota also donated the most canned goods, which benefited local charities.

The last event we participated in this semester was a new competition sponsored by Sigma Pi. It was called “Miracle on Main Street”, and consisted of houses decorating for the Holiday’s. We had SO much fun decorating our amazing house. Our entry fee was a donation to Toys for Tots. The street was open to the public one evening, and the children we able to enjoy hot chocolate and candy canes as they walked down Main Street. It was truly beautiful. It really helped us de-stress from finals, and have fun getting together to highlight the best house on Main Street.

Delta Iota prides themselves on giving back and this past month has been nothing less than an opportunity to give back to our philanthropy in phenomenal ways!

Now that you've been inspired by the phenomenal success at Delta Iota, we'd like to encourage you to pen your own email to the Foundation to tell us all about your philanthropic spirit! You can reach us at foundation@phisigmasigma.org!