Mu Tau Mu of Alpha Chi Omega

Fall semester at CWRU begins this coming Monday, August 23rd. The Alpha Chi Omega collegians at Zeta Upsilon chapter will kick out the new year with a Sisterhood Retreat on Sunday, August 22nd, and we are proud to provide lunch for that event! Thank you, Maura ZU '87, for organizing the details for the lunch! 

To wish the chapter a successful/fun/happy semester, send a note to the house at 11421 Bellflower Rd, Cleveland, OH 44106. 

2010-11 is the Year of Water at Case Western Reserve University. Read more about the year long exploration of water at http://www.case.edu/events/convocation/

The start of the new academic year also marks the beginning of a new year for us. Can you believe we are starting our 7th year as an alumnae chapter? We had our first Exec Board meeting of the new year last Sunday and set some great goals for the next 3-5 years. We look forward to sharing more as our preliminary plans come together, and of course, all members are welcome at our Exec meetings, which tentatively will be held on the second Sunday evening of the month at 9pm EST this year. 

Did you know:

About one in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.⁵

1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked, or otherwise physically hurt by his or her partner.⁹

[If you think you or a friend might be in danger, please call the National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline at 1-866-331-9474 or go to http://loveisrespect.com/ to chat online with a peer advocate.]

Teen Date Abuse is a very serious issue. One place to learn more: Alpha Chi Omega collegian, Patrice Basso (Delta Chi, William Woods) contributed a great blog post on it this week on College Lifestyles.

This video gives good insight into the problem of teen dating violence and the solutions:

Many people and groups are working to end and prevent teen dating violence, including Martina McBride and Lauren Conrad. 

Parents are encouraged to visit MADE - Mothers and Dads for Education to Stop Dating Violence, My Time to Shine and Choose Respect for great information on talking to kids, tweens and teens about dating and healthy relationships.

Fifth idea to prepare: We hope Alpha Chi Omegas everywhere will want to help out the National Domestic Violence Hotline by shopping at Marshalls! 

From NDVH's website: 

"Buying a pair of shoes at any Marshalls store between October 1 and 15, 2009 will benefit the Hotline. As part of the Marshalls Shop ’til It Stops program, $1 will be donated to the National Domestic Violence Hotline for each pair of shoes sold during this period (up to $150,000).

"For the past 18 years, Marshalls has raised millions of dollars and generated tremendous awareness in an effort to help put an end to domestic violence in the United States through their annual Shop til it Stops program. This year for the first time, the National Domestic Violence Hotline will benefit from this program. Be sure to visit Marshalls to support us!"

Even better, there will be a media blitz about Shop Til It Stops! On Thursday, October 1st, Project Runway's Tim Gunn will be emcee at the Shop 'Til It Stops Kick Off at Marshalls in Santa Monica, CA from noon til 2pm. He'll appear later that day (actually just after midnight on Fri 10/2) on the Craig Ferguson Show (CBS 12:35am ET/PT) to talk about Shop Til It Stops too. 

Thank you, Marshalls, for your commitment to prevent domestic violence, raise awareness about it, and support the National Domestic Violence Hotline! 

This week, we'd like to introduce you to the Pixel Project:It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.

"The Pixel Project is a global innovative effort to raise funds for Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) Malaysia and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) USA while turbo-charging global awareness about violence against women."

The Pixel Project has the goal of raising $1 million (or more) by creating a 1 million pixel photograph of 6 well-known men who are role models in movement to end domestic violence. For each $1 donation, one of the pixels of the photo will be revealed. All the participants will be kept secret, and a celebrity photographer and a Grammy-winning songwriter have already donated their services to the project. It promises to be an exciting opportunity to use social media to raise awareness and funds to end violence against women!

To participate, become a facebook fan http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52272122486&ref=ts

and follow @PixelProject on Twitter.

You can also check out their blog http://www.thepixelproject.net/blog/about/

and help us spread the word! here's how:

On Twitter, post a tweet like this:

Follow @PixelProject & become a fan on facebook http://ow.ly/knGh to join their work to end domestic violence #charitytuesday #axo

On facebook, post the Pixel Project page to your profile and/or invite your friends to become fans as well.

On email, share a link to this post! http://ow.ly/knHd

Thank you for being a part of our weekly Alpha Chi Omega virtual philanthropy project!

We're pleased to announce a new item now listed on our Shop for DVA page: