This past Sunday, my sorority held our yearly fundraiser to raise money for a cause so close to my heart. Gamma Phi Beta's philanthropy is Building Strong Girls and when I was going through recruitment, this is what made me want to go GPHI.
Gamma Phi Beta partners with the organization Girls on the Run to build strong girls starting from a young age. Girls on the Run pays for young girls to meet twice a week and learn valuable life lessons such as self-confidence and treating everyone with kindness. While it's called Girls on the Run, running is not at all required. It serves as an avenue to allow coaches to connect and build relationships with the girls.
This semester, I volunteered to be a coach and it has been such an eye-opening and life-changing experience. Even though I'm almost 10 years older than the girls I coach, we have still build friendships on the basis of supporting and encouraging each other. The lesson's I teach the girls are some that I can still apply to my life.
Our fundraiser, Moonball, is an annual volleyball tournament that is hosted on our lawn. Teams sign up to compete against each other in a "backyard game" of volleyball. All the money raised from the teams, raffles, t-shirts, and food sales, go to Girls on the Run so that it can continue building up strong girls.
While all the philanthropies are amazing, this one in particular was the only one that seemed "happy". This philanthropy isn't just for one thing. It's all encompassing. It promotes building each other up on a daily basis and it's so amazing that we get to see the result of this all around. As a Gamma Phi Beta, I am constantly supported and encouraged by the girls in my sorority in all of my endeavors. We are all deeply connected to and invested in our philanthropy and it's part of what makes Gamma Phi Beta so amazing.
