Phi Sig athlete Aubrey Birden - Iota Epsilon

Four years ago in Louisville, she was a volunteer who swore she'd return to the Games as an athlete....

Two years ago, she competed - and made the news....

Moments ago, we welcomed AUBREY BIRDEN (Iota Epsilon, Indiana University at Kokomo) back to the Games!

A kidney transplant recipient, she'll be competing this weekend in badminton, bowling and the 5K cycle race.

Watch for more from Aubrey soon!

Hey! Simonne at UIFI - we heart you!

Lookie who we bumped into in the main hallway outside the Expo, where thousands of athletes, donor families and others are milling around and learning about the sponsors (like us) and getting goodies (like our signature Foundation pin)!

IOTA IOTA sisters at Grand Valley State are in the house, and missing their Archon Simonne Yet Kwong Horman, who's attending the UIFI conference this week.

(Sisters are everywhere, making us proud - what can we say?) :-)

Fitness at the Transplant Games!

The booth across from us is a donor recipient who is a personal trainer. Here's our own Missy Spishak completing the push up challenge!

Sent from iPhone

Wait a minute...

Yes, that is a Phi Sig shirt but not a Phi Sigma Sigma sister! We are please to be joined by several friends and family members this weekend who traveled to the Games with our sisters.

So, meet Steve (pictured) who is a TKE at Northern Michigan University. He traveled down with one of our Theta Alpha sisters and is doing an amazing job telling everyone about Phi Sig!

Best shirts so far!

Check these shirts out! They are the coolest yet. On the front they say I (picture of a heart) PSS and the back ...and my (picture of kidneys)! How cool is that! Sporting the shirts are Dana, Lana and Lisl from our Iota Iota chapter.

Pins, pins and more pins!

Katie Herschede here again. I am over at the Expo Hall with Jessica Berner (Delta Sigma), Jen McElroy (Theta Upsilon) and Kelly Chirumbolo (Gamma Tau) putting our beautiful pins on cards with information about the Foundation. The cards even include our blog address so the Transplant Games athletes and families can follow us too!

Check back often because we'll have lots of amazing posts about our adventures in Madison.

And we're here!

Hi all. Katie Herschede here. Just wanted to provide a quick update that part of our fabulous team is here and working hard! Grand Archon Pam Downey, Games Chairman Missy Spishak and Committee Member Jessie Stapleton all came in tonight to help get everything ready. We're taking a quick break to have dinner at the famous "The Great Dane" restaurant. We can't wait for Phi Sig sisters to descend upon Madison soon!

Why volunteer at the Games? To say THANK YOU for saving my mom's life...

By Eileen Collins
Theta - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

WHAT DO I GET FROM VOLUNTEERING AT THE U.S. TRANSPLANT GAMES?  For me, it’s my way to say THANK YOU. To explain, I am incorporating some of what I wrote to the donor family that gave my mother the gift of life in the form of two new lungs in July 2008:

I am a daughter. I am a daughter to a kind and hard-working 60-year-old retired nurse, mother to 3 daughters and grandmother to the most perfect 2-year-old boy. I can tell you that she suffered for almost 15 years due to a disease that started with a dry hacking cough that would not go away, crescendoed to a frightening phone call from the doctor while I was getting ready for my high-school prom, and left her lungs scarred and dying, unable to support her, unable to put oxygen into her body, starving her heart for oxygenated blood, causing her to be unable to walk 10 steps without having to stop and rest because she was in pain and dizzy.

My mom’s disease required her to carry heavy oxygen tanks every time she wanted to leave the house to do something as basic as go to the store.  Eventually, a solution appeared: She just stopped going. My beautiful mother, tall and blonde with green eyes I’ve always envied (redheads always want green eyes, but frequently settle for brown), and pretty, fair coloring, became a ghost of herself. Her pretty coloring turned grey and waiflike, suffering from the same loss of oxygen the rest of her body had experienced. Her hands, which I could describe to a T now, turned blue and purple from the inability to keep warm. Her cough became her calling card, something that always told you where she was. It became a joke of sorts in our family: If you were looking for mom, just be quiet a moment, she’ll start coughing and you’ll be able to find her. 

On July 17, 2008, my family got the phone call that there might be a set of lungs for my mom. So off we went – my sisters, my father and me – on the first flight out the next morning. Off we went into the unknown, not sure if this surgery would happen and absolutely clueless as to what would await afterwards. And on July 18, 2008, in the evening, my mother received the gift that would save her life: a set of lungs.

Since then, my mother has had the chance to thrive and flourish in a way she never dreamed possible. She got to hold her grandson. She renewed her wedding vows with my father after 32 years of marriage. She was able to see me walk across the stage at my law-school graduation. And I can tell you that we both wept during my graduation, awestruck that she got to be a part of an event that by all rights she never would have lived to see if not for the generous gift of life from someone we never met – someone who was going through the worst kind of pain imaginable and who, in his or her grief and sadness, decided that other people should be spared from their pain, sickness and grief.

We talk about my mother’s donor every now and then. From what we have learned, our donor was a young man with a real zest for life and a taste for adventure. My mother remembers that when she needs to do things like exercise by saying things like, “Well, Nick didn’t sit around doing nothing with these lungs, and neither can I.” We do not keep in touch with our donor family, but they remain in our thoughts and our prayers still.

I will likely never meet the family that made the decision to give my mother the gift of life, and it is hard not to have someone to thank in person. But for me, being able to come here, to the Transplant Games, and to be a part of the celebration of life that organ donation creates for thousands of people every year, allows me to say THANK YOU. Thank you to the families who generously gave what you did not have to give. Thank you to the doctors and the nurses and the caregivers who work so tirelessly so that everyone, no matter what their ailment is, has a fighting chance at life. Thank you to the scientists, the researchers and all of those people working to show the world just what can be done when the powers of science and medicine join forces with the power of faith. 

– From a grateful daughter

 

Where has the time gone?!?

Can you believe believe that we are only DAYS away from the start of the 2010 Transplant Games in Madison, Wisconsin? We are so excited to have 75 volunteers coming to the Games from coast to coast and every place in between.

Did you know that we're involved in new and exciting events this year? We'll be covering ballroom dancing, the 5K race and cycling!

This blog will be THE authority in all things Games and Phi Sigma Sigma so check back often as we'll be posting all the time!

Feel free to leave comments on what you want us to be sure to post about.

We're excited!

Updated: Transplant Games Hotel Information

The 2010 Transplant Games are coming up fast! This summer, Phi Sigs from all over the country will be heading to Madison, Wisconsin to help cheer on the athletes and serve as Transplant Games Ambassadors assisting team members from the U.S. and Canada. If you are planning on traveling to Madison for this life changing event, please visit the Phi Sigma Sigma Web site (www.phisigmasigma.org) and take the following steps:

* Click on My Phi Sig and select either Collegians or Alumnae
* Under Individual Functions choose Event Registration
* Select 2010 Transplant Games

You can even purchase a t-shirt which we will be wearing at the Games!! We want to make sure all our volunteers have the best experience possible, but to do so we need all volunteers to register.

To reserve your hotel room at the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace you will need to contact Missy Spishak at mspishak@phisigmasigma.org for the event housing link and group access code.

The rate is $159 per night and our block of rooms is reserved from July 30-August 2. Be sure to book soon as the number of reserved rooms is limited. You must book by April 29 as rooms remaining after that date will be released.

We are so excited to see you in Madison this summer!!

Transplant Games Are Just Around the Corner!

The 2010 Transplant Games are coming up fast! This summer, Phi Sigs from all over the country will be heading to Madison, Wisconsin to help cheer on the athletes and serve as Transplant Games Ambassadors assisting team members from the U.S. and Canada. If you are planning on traveling to Madison for this life changing event, please visit the Phi Sigma Sigma Web site (www.phisigmasigma.org) and take the following steps:

• Click on My Phi Sig and select either Collegians or Alumnae
• Under Individual Functions choose Event Registration
• Select 2010 Transplant Games
  

You can even purchase a t-shirt which will be wearing at the Games!! We want to make sure all our volunteers have the best experience possible, but to do so we need all volunteers to register.

Also to reserve your hotel room, please contact the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace at 1-608-255-5100 (www.hiltonmadison.com) and let them know you are with Phi Sigma Sigma. The rate is $159 per night and our block of rooms is reserved from July 30-August 2. Be sure to call soon as our the number of reserved rooms is limited. You must book by April 29 as rooms remaining after that date will be released.

We are so excited to see you in Madison this summer!! If you have any questions please contact Melissa Spishak at mspishak@phisigmasigma.org.

Getting Ready to Take Madison, WI By Storm!

The Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation is gearing up to head to Madison, WI this summer from July 30-Aug 1 to volunteer at the 2010 Transplant Games.

What are the Games? They are Olympic style events for transplant recipients run by the National Kidney Foundation to celebrate life and bring awareness to the need for organ donation. Phi Sig attends the Games to cheer on the athletes and volunteer at various competitions.

It is a life changing event and something that everyone who participates cherishes. We are working on putting all the details together for our sisters to attend so make sure you sign up as a fan on the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation Facebook page (www.facebook.com/phisigmasigmafoundation), keep checking back to the Foundation website (www.phisigmasigmafoundation.org) and this bookmark this blog for updates and new information. Also check out the Games website (www.transplantgames.org) for more info on what the Games are all about.

If you are interested in volunteering please contact Melissa Spishak (foundation@phisigmasigma.org), Transplant Games Coordinator, and register on the Phi Sigma Sigma web page under "Events" (not on the Transplant Games site as we will register as a group).

Hope to see you in Madison!

Welcome to our new officers and directors!

The Foundation is proud to announce new corporate officers and directors whose terms are effectively immediately. New officers and directors are elected to two year terms. Click here to learn more...

Philanthropic Recruitment - Keys for Success

It's that time again... in college campuses all over, students have moved in, classes have started and our chapters are preparing for fall recruitment! The Foundation wishes you all the best during this hectic time and to make your lives a little easier, we've developed some "Keys for Success" when planning your philanthropic recruitment event.

First and foremost: The key to a successful philanthropic recruitment event is in the planning. Log in to Phi Sigma Sigma to read our tips.

The Most Important Tip

Relax, smile and have fun!!!

Foundation Scholarship Winners Answer an Important Question...

"What does Phi Sigma Sigma Mean to You?"