By Lawrence Rogers
Junior Editor
Spearheaded by their Community Service Chair Rebecca Brewer (C’18), the ladies of Kappa Omega recently rallied the community and members of the student body at Otey Memorial Parish for their third annual Sewanee Hearts and Grocery Hearts canned food drive and fundraiser for the Community Action Committee (CAC). This year’s fundraiser followed in the wake of the event winning the 2015 and 2016 Best Community Service Project Award.
“Sewanee Hearts and Grocery Carts is our biggest service event of the year, and it’s a wonderful way to turn the weekend before Valentine’s Day into a celebration of love for our community. The CAC does so much to help community members, and Kappa Omega loves helping them out in any way we can,” said Fleming Smith (C’19), KO’s Assistant Community Service Chair.
The event, which took place on February 12, most prominently featured the auction of themed goodie baskets donated by local organizations and University Greek societies and theme houses, including a grilling-out basket donated by Delta Kappa Epsilon, a sweetheart basket donated by Alpha Delta Pi, and gardening and knitting baskets from Sewanee community members.
Alongside the auction was a gift certificate raffle, an event allowed in Tennessee only for philanthropic organizations and, even then, with strict limitations. Charitable gamblers were invited to place their tickets in any of the five boxes in hopes of winning a gift card from Amazon, Visa, IvyWild, Papa Ron’s, Mountain Outfitters, Monteagle Florist, and Mountain Goat.
The ladies of Kappa Omega are proud to announce that this year’s fundraiser raised $1,600 dollars, a small but significant improvement on last year’s $1,500.
Despite their considerable contribution, the sorority hopes to augment attendance and campus involvement with the event in the coming years. KO pledge Callan Ghareeb (C’20) lamented, “Almost nobody that’s not a KO comes, except for people in the community,” continuing on to express her desire to attract more Greek organizations and theme houses to next year’s event.
While the opportunity to participate in this year’s drive has expired, no willing heart will be turned away from next year’s drive, and the ladies of Kappa Omega hope to see as many new and returning faces as the campus can muster.