think pink think zeta
Throughout each semester, Zeta Tau Alpha at Georgia Tech supports our national philanthropy, strengthens relations with other Greek organizations through philanthropy, and prioritizes time participating in external community service.
Our chapter hosts many events to support our national philanthropy, Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. Every spring semester we host our annual Strawberry Festival where we raise over $15,000 by selling strawberries. We host Think Pink Weeks every semester to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer. In addition, we support GT baseball, football and basketball by hosting/attending Pink Out games. In the fall of 2018, we started a Rumble For the Ribbon event where people on the GT campus pay to create teams and compete in a flag football competition. The money raised at this fun event all goes to our national philanthropy! We also focus on philanthropy outside of Breast Cancer Education and Awareness by hosting sandwich making, card crafting, and education presentation events, many times with other Greek organizations around campus.
Individually, our members invest in many external philanthropies as well. Collectively, our women completed over 250 hours of work with For The Kids, 140 hours with BOPSOP, and 110 hours with "The whY", in addition to hours spent volunteering for many other organizations.
What our philanthropy means to us..
I’m Virginia Schreiber. I’m a fourth year and this is why Zeta’s philanthropy is so near and dear to my heart.
My mom and I are extremely close. She is one of the biggest reasons I decided to rush in the first place. She had to pay for college herself and unfortunately was unable to join a sorority but she has always wanted that to be a possibility for me. She is definitely my biggest supporter. From never missing a gymnastics meet, dance recital, football game, or performance, I would not be who I am today without her by my side.
When I was around 4 months old, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully they caught it early and she chose to have a double mastectomy to remove all of the cancer and reduce the risk of recurrence. She was unable to hold me again until I was 6 months old since she had to regain a lot of her strength from such an invasive procedure. But like the fighter she is, she made it through all of the challenges and today, August 20th, 2021 marks 19 years cancer free.
When I was going through rush last year, something that really stuck out was Zeta’s passion and emphasis on their philanthropy. I instantly knew that Zeta was where I wanted to be. Over the past year I’ve loved being able to get involved in Zeta’s philanthropy and growing my bonds with my sisters, but my favorite part has been being able to share my memories with my mom and being able to take her on my sisterhood journey with me. That’s why I think pink
Sincerely,
Virginia Schreiber
Our philanthropy allows us to invest in something much greater than ourselves. Breast cancer is a personal cause that has marked the lives of far too many. But here at ZTA we aim to reduce its reach in any way we can through our philanthropy, breast cancer education and awareness.
While a major part of our philanthropy and service is fundraising at Iota Theta we aim to extend beyond this and promote awareness on a more personal level. As VP of Philanthropy, I’ve been excited to help start a new initiative: a breast health clinic where any woman in the GT community is invited to our house to learn how to perform a self-breast exam and learn about the indications of breast cancer. Beyond that, we also table and pass out ribbons, have pink out basketball, baseball and football games, chapter talks from women within the GT community and many other breast cancer awareness events during Think Pink Week.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lives. Many of us know someone who has been affected and that’s why I believe we are so passionate about our cause. It is so inspiring to see how far we’ve come, and I can’t wait to see what more amazing things chapter will do.
Sincerely,
Shannon Foley