Philanthropy
In 1911 Alpha Chi Omega began supporting the MacDowell Colony, as MacDowell was an alumna of Alpha Chi Omega. During World War I and II Alpha Chi Omega offered its support by helping working mothers who were married to service men by providing day nurseries and helping orphaned French children. In 1947 Alpha Chi Omega adopted Easter Seals as its philanthropy.
In 1978 the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation was created to help support the philanthropic projects and educational programming supported by the organization. In 1992 it was decided that Alpha Chi Omega's current national altruistic project would be the support of Victims of Domestic Violence. Alpha Chi Omega voted to change primary philanthropies during the 1980s after the National Board became aware of the prevalence of domestic violence, with very little remedy offered to victims, both financially and emotionally. Alpha Chi Omega was the first American women's fraternity to tackle the problems of domestic violence head-on, not just by assisting victims, but by educating its members against it. Alpha Chi Omega continues its support of Easter Seals.
Through many funds and grants the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation also helps to support members and those closely related to Alpha Chi Omegas. This is to ensure that support is continuously available for all sisters.
Individual chapters focus their attention on increasing the awareness of the domestic violence, the destruction it causes to individuals, families, and children, as well as actively aiding victims of domestic violence through hands-on activities and service projects. This work is done through local agencies, which undergraduate and alumnae chapters support physically and financially. Local agencies include rape crisis centers, emergency shelters and safe houses for victims of domestic violence and their children, and long-term assistance centers for battered women across the nation.
Alpha Chi Omega supports Kristin's Story in cooperation with Delta Delta Delta.
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Famous quotes containing the word philanthropy:
“I shall not be forward to think him mistaken in his method who quickest succeeds to liberate the slave. I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Almost every man we meet requires some civility,—requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... the hey-day of a woman’s life is on the shady side of fifty, when the vital forces heretofore expended in other ways are garnered in the brain, when their thoughts and sentiments flow out in broader channels, when philanthropy takes the place of family selfishness, and when from the depths of poverty and suffering the wail of humanity grows as pathetic to their ears as once was the cry of their own children.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)