BIG News Out of Missouri!

On Tuesday, April 30, 2013, the University of Missouri Panhellenic Association and Circle of Sisterhood welcomed Ginny Carroll. At the event, the Panhellenic Association announced a $20,000 donation to Circle of Sisterhood and committed to building a school in an underdeveloped country.

To fundraise the remaining amount needed to build a school, Mizzou Panhellenic will host a different event each month. In August, during formal recruitment, Panhellenic will host a movie night showing Girl Rising. All the potential new members will also learn about the Circle in their morning meetings during recruitment.

In September, Panhellenic will host the first ever Mizzou Circle of Sisterhood 5k walk/run, where we will “Run for the Girls.” All proceeds will go towards fundraising efforts for the school. In October, chapters will host fundraising events with alumnae. Finally in November, multiple profit share nights at local businesses will take place. After a semester of fundraising, we hope to have all the money to complete the school. Fourteen Mizzou sorority women will be selected to travel to help build the school in June 2014.

Over the past semester, the University of Missouri Panhellenic Association adopted the Circle of Sisterhood as the Panhellenic philanthropy. At the beginning of the semester, the organization started hosting weekly meetings and all interested sorority women were invited to attend. At the first meeting, so many women attended to learn about Circle of Sisterhood that people had to sit on the floor. The following week, the meeting moved to a bigger classroom, but it was still not big enough, as even more sorority women came out to support the cause. Currently, the meetings are held in a lecture hall that can hold 80 people.  The Mizzou Panhellenic Community has welcomed Circle of Sisterhood with open arms.

The women attending the meetings became passionate about the cause. At each meeting, groups brainstormed ideas to create continued awareness around campus.  One idea was hosting weekly Half the Sky screenings in the month of April. Women from 16 different sororities attended the screenings. After April, over 100 Panhellenic women had seen Half the Sky and were aware of the abuse of women in underdeveloped countries. After each screening, thoughtful discussion followed, and women became even more passionate about the cause.

Next fall, Circle of Sisterhood will host general meetings every other week to educate sorority women about the Circle. Mizzou Panhellenic and Mizzou Circle of Sisterhood are thrilled to have the opportunity to build a school in an underdeveloped country and to help change the lives of many women.