Saturday March 1st the TTU Recreational Softball fields will be crowded with many young men and women playing for a great cause. Tri-delt hosts their annual softball tournament benefitting their philanthropy every spring and it is finally that time of the year!
Being a member of Delta Delta Delta myself I know how wonderful our philanthropy is. Every cause is great, but truly believe that St. Jude is one of the best philanthropies out there. How many college students can honestly say they have helped donate time and money to save a child’s life?
In an interview with Madi Mead, tri-delt philanthropy chair we discussed many things. We talked about how she feels being elected new chair for philanthropy, her visit to St. Jude, and the upcoming event she planned, Triple Play! Madi is extremely passionate about tri-delt and St. Jude and it is completely obvious at every chapter meeting. It is so awesome that tri-delt has such a great young lady representing us in this area of our chapter.
So what is Triple Play? Triple Play is Delta Delta Delta’s annual softball tournament. It is double elimination and bracket style. Local people in Lubbock of all ages are welcome to play of any age! Each team pays a registration fee and all money that is collected is donated to straight to St. Jude. We also took donations from many compassionate Lubbock locals and companies. Triple play is an extremely fun event to participate in and a great cause to be playing for. Last year was my first year participating in the tournament and one thing I took note of was everyone had such a positive attitude about the day. All tri-deltas are required to be there the entire day (9am-late at night) to work, umpire, and coach teams. The attitudes throughout the day were very uplifting and enthusiastic even though the day was long! Tri-delts are extremely passionate about St. Jude!
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is located in Memphis, Tennessee. Danny Thomas founded the hospital in 1962. The awesome thing about St. Jude is that the patients do not pay. Not one cent. This is why Tri-delta is so important! To run the hospital for 24 hours it requires 1.9 million. Tri-delta has done so much in their partnership with St. Jude that we have our own wing in the hospital. Without the support from tri-delt and many other organizations and donors millions of kid’s lives would not be the way they are today.
In an interview with philanthropy chair Madi Mead we discussed her feelings on St. Jude, being philanthropy chair, and her recent visit to the hospital in Memphis…
What is it like being philanthropy chair of Delta Delta Delta?
“It is so rewarding. It’s definitely stressful planning an event but at the end of the day it is so satisfying to literally get to see where the money we raise is going.”
What are the kids like at St. Jude?
“Everyone there is so happy. St. Jude is like Disney Land to the kids. The remarks tat some of the kids and parents were making are so inspiring and made me never want to complain again. It was really cool to see not only what a great atmosphere it is, but to see how tri-delt has left their mark there.”
Madi also talked about a few of her places in the hospital she really enjoyed visiting. She thought the ABC wall was very neat. This wall is where children choose a letter in the alphabet and relate it to their struggles, happiness, and times at St. Jude. She also enjoyed paying visits to the C Clinic and the Teen Room, both of which were sponsored by tri-delt. The Teen Room is a room where only teenagers are allowed to hangout. The purpose of this room is to help the kids feel like ordinary teenagers again. This room is a place for them to relax, play video games, and take a break from the hospital bed. The C-Clinic is a specialty clinic that houses a wide variety of services for St. Jude patients. Almost all patients will visit the C-Clinic some time throughout their visit. Without tri-delta neither of these special places may exist.
Every year Delta Delta Delta at TTU plays a video of St. Jude on our philanthropy day of recruitment. In this video it explains what St. Jude is and how tri-delta has helped over the years. The video focuses on one patient named Evans, and causes any viewer to feel an immediate connection to hi, Evans’ mother was a tri-delta herself and never believed her philanthropy would be hitting her life so close to home. Madi Mead got the chance to meet Evans and his mother while she was visiting St. Jude. Madi stated that his mother went into detail about how it felt to have a child at St. Jude and how much she loves tri-delta and wants Evans to marry one. There are many promotional St. Jude videos online with Evans and his mother in them, just like the one attached below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_4qI_lpsHQ
Delta Delta Delta chapters around the world are doing work every day to help benefit St. Jude. Recently tri-delta nationwide set a goal to raise 15 million dollars in 5 years. At a leadership conference recently held St. Jude announced that the goal of 15 million had been reached in only 3.5 years! This accomplishment is so huge and really causes a sorority member like myself to put into perspective how much work we really do for the hospital. All the time and commitment, and many fun events like Triple Play and Delta After Dark are literally saving kids lives, and I don’t know of anything more rewarding than that.
Without leaders like Madi, and having such a passionate chapter none of this would be possible. Without tri-delta St. Jude may not have some of the advancements they posses today. Madi said “our philanthropy is the best because it is unique. We get to physically see where the money is going and how life changing it is to the kids of St. Jude. It is so awesome to see how appreciative the parents are of our sorority, and knowing that we are saving childrens’ lives is the most rewarding feeling in the world.” As you can tell tri-deltas are very proud of their philanthropy. I hope everyone comes out to support Triple Play! We do it all for the kids!
