Fall 2017 Update

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

This semester, Gamma Psi inducted 15 new members. This semester's rush theme was the 90s. Congratulations to The New Bids on the Block!

HOMECOMING

Homecoming will be January 27, 2018, so grab your purple gear and join the festivities.

GIVING BACK

This year for philanthropy, Gamma Psi is partnering with Belief In Motion's establishing ministry and raising money to fund the first X's and O's Home in Romania. This home will serve as an alternative for living in an orphanage for 12 girls up to age 18, and will provide them with tutors, caretakers, psychologists, and a loving and uplifting environment. Phi Alpha Phi has also agreed to partner with Belief In Motion, so members are very excited to combine forces and make a huge impact on the lives of the girls that will live in the home! For community service, Gamma Psi is partnering with Route 66 and providing meals for the kids once a month and will be volunteering at Joshua's Dream Ranch throughout the month of October. 

SISTERS ON STAGE

Many sisters involved in theater were in Theater Young Harris productions of The Elves and the Shoemaker, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and will be in Urinetown from November 7-11, 2017. Buy tickets here.

ALUMNI UPDATES

 

When Hurricane Irma threatened to ruin Willow Stine's third birthday party, hospital staff in St. Petersburg, Florida, came to the rescue.

Three year old Willow was diagnosed with leukemia in September, just two days before Hurricane Irma hit. She was with her mother at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida preparing for chemotherapy. Her mother had nothing for her birthday: no presents, no cake, no decorations. Hospital staff, including alumnus Kelly Boyd ‘14, came to the rescue. Raiding a stash of brand new toys at the hospital, nurses and specialists working Willow wrapped up gifts, including a doll, a game, books, Play-Doh and a bubble machine to save the day. Read more on the story here. 

THE FUTURE'S SO BRIGHT 

YHC alumnus Leah Cheshier, '16, who works at NASA's Johnson Space Center,  posted an insider's update on the recent Great American Solar Eclipse for the YHC Facebook page. Check out what she had to say ahead of the big event here.

HAVE TWO, GIVE ONE 

This summer, Sheldon Clark ’16 did the selfless act of donating a kidney. In a Facebook post, she wrote, “About two years ago I decided I wanted to donate my kidney. I figured that if I had two and could live with one, why not help someone else live or have a better life? I didn't want to die and let my second kidney "go to waste." So, I called the Emory University Transplant Center after doing some research! I began the process of being an altruistic donor at Emory.” 

Clark was unable to donate to a family friend, but was able to enter a system that allows for a living donor to donate on behalf of a particular recipient. The process is referred to as a paired donation or a 'kidney swap.' The point of the exchange is for "every kidney transplant candidate with an incompatible but willing and approved living donor to receive a living donor kidney transplant." After extensive evaluation and testing, she was entered into the National Kidney Registry and a recipient was shortly found. 

“While I can't know who received my kidney, I do know it went to MUSC Children's Hospital!,” she wrote, “I had a great experience at Emory and was cared for by the best staff! They did all the hard work last week while keeping me happy and healthy!! I have pretty great friends and family who also supported me and sent so many messages of encouragement. …Yes, it was really that easy to save someone's life!” 

Clark is currently teaching in Costa Rica. If you’d like to become a living donor, register here: https://registerme.org