Mu Tau Mu of Alpha Chi Omega

We'll have 2-3 more posts about Alpha Chi Omega Convention, including an official report on the business conducted there, but we wanted to share the Mu Tau Mu - Zeta Upsilon news right away!

First a little bragging: Congratulations to us (Mu Tau Mu) on doing so well in the alumnae chapter awards! We were a Finalist for the 2010 Alumnae Chapter National Council Trophy!

(Our MTM Delegate, Liz S., accepts the National Council Trophy Finalist award from the Alpha Chi Omega National Council.)

(Zeta Upsilon collegians and alumnae with the trophy: from left to right: Amy Z, Candace, Chelsea, Erin, Liz, Amy B (honorary ZU) and Susan.)

Mu Tau Mu also won the inaugural Domestic Violence Outreach Award for our 2009 Twitter #CharityTuesday project (more on that soon, so proud!). We were also finalists in these alumnae chapter award categories:

PACE (Promoting Alpha Chi Everyday)

Fine Arts

Increased Membership

Sisterhood

Communications

Special Event (for ZU's 25th Anniversary Silver Carnation Ball)

Membership Outreach

Collegiate Support - Distance Chapter

Foundation

We also had two "firsts" for Zeta Upsilon at this Convention: our first Convention Page (Chelsea) and our first member of the Convention Choir (Karen T).

(In this photo of the Convention Pages with National President Marsha Grady, Chelsea is second from left in the front row.)

(In this Convention Choir photo, Karen is in the front row on the far right.)

We are very proud of all of our awards and recognition, but in nothing are we more proud than we are of the strong friendships we share. Truly the best part of Convention is getting to see sisters! We had a table full of Zeta Upsilons for Reunion Night Dinner Saturday and were lucky to have 16 of us together at Reunion Night Part 2 hosted by alumna Nikki. Thank you Nikki and everyone who attended. We had a wonderful evening together.

(from left to right, back row: Tracy ZU '01, Liz S ZU '03, Karen ZU '01 , Susan ZU '87; 3rd row: Lisa ZU '90, Steph ZU '10, Caitlin ZU '08; 2nd row: Jen ZU '89, Amy ZU '86, Rachelle ZU '98, Nikki ZU '88; front row: Chelsea ZU '08, Erin ZU '09, Liz ZU '87, Candace ZU '09, Pam ZU '87) 

This week we encourage all Alpha Chi Omega sisters to learn more about and support Click to Empower. Please participate in their “Click to Empower Campaign.” The organization with the most votes as of September 13, 2009, will get a $100,000 grant!

The goal of Click to Empower is to promote financial independence for domestic violence survivors. We’d like you to make your own decision about which organization to vote for. There are four choices – Charity Cars, Family Justice Centers, Safe Horizon, and YWCA. Once on the site, you can even connect your vote directly to your facebook page!

Click the icon to begin:

Did you know that you can support Alpha Chi Omega Foundation (and thus Alpha Chi Omega) using the Causes application on Facebook? Through the Birthdays feature, you can even celebrate your big day in a meaningful way.

Aggie Steiner, Alpha Chi extraordinaire, really enjoyed the extra joy that came from including Alpha Chi Omega Foundation as part of her birthday celebration in March. Many thanks to her for sharing her experience with us. We hope you'll be as moved by her comments as we are.

The set-up was really easy. I received an "ask" from the Facebook Causes application that allowed me to set-uprequests for my upcoming birthday to support one of my chosen causes. (So it is necessary that both applications - cause and Birthday Reminders be engaged on someone's Facebook page).The dollar per year seemed a reasonable amount to request. If I were younger, I would have asked for $5 or $10.

My only short-lived trepidation was, did I really want to tell the world that I was turning 61? Twenty-one friends accepted my challenge to total $1040. I matched $860 to make it $2000 total. The really great news is that 2-3 donors were first-time givers to the Foundation and I reconnected with 5 sisters with whom I had lost current contact. Obviously, I was both thrilled and honored!

I definitely think others should do this, whether it is for a birthday or other special occasion. What about celebrating the anniversary of an AX initation date or college graduation date? Donating this way was easy for me and just as easy for the donors. Everything was handled on-line.The initial ask was posted on my Facebook page banner. I also selected from my friends list. Payment was handled through pay-pal by clicking on a "Donate Now" button. And, I was notified by Facebook when a donation was made so I could send out thank yous.

Be sure to join the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation Facebook Cause today! http://apps.facebook.com/causes/73662/14218508?m=edd8a396

Sample birthday celebration on Causes is here:http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/01/facebook-birthday-causes-more-learnings-thanks-yous-1124-raised.html

Alpha Iota (University of Vermont) alumna, Melissa d'Arabian, will appear on "The Next Food Network Star" on the Food Network this summer.

The first episode airs on June 7th.

View her profile for the show here, and then make plans to tune in and support her!

Monday, March 3rd is International Badge Day!