Spare Change for Change: University of Illinois School Spotlight

University of Illinois hosts Potential New Member Orientation and screens a Circle of Sisterhood information video last fall.

This year, our Panhellenic community decided to support the Circle of Sisterhood as our annual recruitment philanthropy. Each year, the council chooses an organization to sponsor and Circle of Sisterhood seemed a perfect fit.

The cause is admirable, accessible, and relatable for all women, REGARDLESS OF AFFILIATION.

In years past, one dollar of each potential new member’s formal recruitment registration fee is donated to charity. Our formal recruitment numbers are between 1200-1400 women, which makes for a meaningful donation at the end of the process.

Although that would have been a donation the University of Illinois community would have been proud of, we wanted to take things one step further. The Panhellenic Council Executive Board planned a change drive competition between the groups participating in formal recruitment. The idea was to bring as much spare change as possible throughout the days of recruitment to see which group could raise to most money. The prize was a small gift card to a popular restaurant on campus. In order to get the future sorority women excited about the Circle of Sisterhood, the PHC executive board did a short presentation about the organization during our PNM Orientation session. We showed a Circle of Sisterhood video, and talked about what service and giving means in terms of fraternity/sorority life.

It was our hope that through the craziness of recruitment, one important pillar of Greek life would not go unnoticed…service. We wanted the women to see from the very beginning what amazing things can be accomplished when a motivated group of educated women work together for a common good.

The drive was a huge success, raising over $2,400 for the Circle of Sisterhood! Watching all of this happen from behind the scenes was incredible. I am so proud of our amazing Panhellenic community here at The University of Illinois. Since the drive was so well received, and there was a lot of excitement about Circle of Sisterhood in general, I hope to see this drive become a recruitment tradition in years to come.

This blog post was written by Bridget Leduc, a senior at Illinois University Urbana-Champaign studying Psychology. Ledue is a Delta Gamma. She served as the Panhellenic Council Vice President of Service in 2011. In that role she coordinated the Circle of Sisterhood fundraising efforts.