Yesterday, Sunday, November 17, 2013, was an awful one for many communities in America’s heartland. A weather system brimming with high winds and tornadoes leveled communities and changed lives forever. Having grown up on the east coast, I was unfamiliar with tornadoes until we moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Then on one fall day, with a sky very blue, I heard a very loud voice, coming from the sky, commanding me to “seek shelter.” Was it the voice of God? I obviously did not get the memo that once a month on a certain day, the city tested the emergency sirens.
Having lived in the midwest pretty much since that first encounter with the emergency siren, I am fairly well-schooled on the protocol of hightailing it to the basement. Yesterday’s trip was a bit odd as it is November. The sky didn’t look too bad when the sirens sounded and the weather radio blared. Social media played a big role yesterday as much of the news about what was going on came via the internet.
My Facebook post around 1 p.m. “Hunkered down in basement. Odd feeling for this time of year. Be safe friends.” was responded to a few minutes later, from a friend in Texas, “Thinking of you all. We just learned that one of Jim’s fraternity brothers has lost his home in Washington. Stay safe.”
My daughter was on her way back to town from an event for a childhood friend who is getting married in a few weeks. My daughter called to say she was stuck on the highway because there was a tractor-trailer blocking the two lanes of the interstate. She was parked on the highway for two hours. (For news watchers, she had barely missed the New Minden, Illinois tornado. The picture in this post is from her phone. You can see the truck blocking the highway in the second picture.) I was able to find news about why the highway was closed from social media.
Almost immediately, Facebook friends in the Peoria area began posting updates of the Washington, Illinois, tornado. Washington is near several colleges, including Bradley University and Illinois State University. Tweets began to follow, including some of these.
@AlphaGammaRho Our chapter is planning on helping with tornado relief in Washington, Il. this week. We are taking any donations. Please RT! Sigma Nu Fraternity @SigmaNuHQ
If you know of brothers affected by the storm please let us know so we can lend the helping hand as needed. Delta Gamma @deltagamma
Thinking of those impacted by today’s tornadoes and working to reach our sisters in those areas. #DGsafestorm ISU-Alpha Sigs @ISUAlphaSigs
@ISUAlphaSigs will be hosting a food drive at our house all of this week to help the people affected by the tornado!
Facebook posts followed this morning.
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Through contributions by members of the Greek system, we raised over $500 for Washington Tornado Relief after Panfrasing last night! I don’t know that I have ever been so proud to be a member of this community.
People helping people is a cornerstone of American society and I know people have already been hard at work trying to help. A fund for the fraternity brother my friend told me about had been set-up by some of his friends within a few hours. His college friends were doing what they could from where they were. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this awful storm.
The Lulu Corkhill Fund, a program of the Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O., a Philanthropic, Education Organization, will no doubt help many Illinois residents over the next few weeks and months.
Most of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) member groups (and/or their foundations) fund emergency grants to members. Since 1922, the Rose McGill Fund has helped Kappa Kappa Gamma members in need. The same can be said for Kappa Alpha Theta’s Friendship Fund, created in 1926. Two members who remain anonymous, write on the behalf of a sister and secrecy surrounds the Friendship Fund gifts. Pi Beta Phi’s Emma Harper Turner Fund began in 1946 as a way for Pi Phis to help other Pi Phis confidentially and anonymously; more than $100,000 is given annually to Pi Phi collegiate and alumnae members. In 2012, Tri Delta’s Crescent Fund awarded $116,700 to Tri Delta alumnae experiencing unforeseen events.
Among the programs available for collegians and alumnae members in need are:
Alpha Chi Omega’s Member Assistance Grants Alpha Delta Pi’s Abigail Davis Emergency Grants (collegiate members) and Clasped Hands Fund Grants (alumnae) Alpha Epsilon Phi’s Cheryl Kraff Cooper, M.D, Giraffe Fund Alpha Gamma Delta’s SIS Grant Program Alpha Omicron Pi’s Ruby Fund Alpha Phi’s Forget Me Not Fund Alpha Sigma Alpha’s Janice Adams Membership Assistance Fund Alpha Xi Delta’s Heart Fund Grants Chi Omega’s Sisterhood Fund Delta Delta Delta’s Crescent Fund Delta Gamma’s Anchor Grants Delta Phi Epsilon’s Harriette Hirsch Sisterhood Fund Delta Zeta’s Elizabeth Coulter Stephenson Grants (providing financial help for sorority expenses) Gamma Phi Beta’s Grant-In-Aid Kappa Alpha Theta’s Friendship Fund Kappa Delta’s Alumnae Crisis Fund Kappa Kappa Gamma Rose McGill Fund Phi Mu’s Leona Hughes Hughes Heart & Hand Fund and the Betty Nell Wilkinson Emergency Scholarship Pi Beta Phi’s Emma Harper Turner Fund Sigma Kappa’s Alumnae Heart FundMy best guess would be that more than $500,000 is given to each year to NPC women in need. I suspect many applications from those affected by these rare November tornadoes will be filled out in the coming days. I’m also fairly certain that contributions to these funds would be very welcomed, too. These funds display a wonderful message of sisters helping sisters.
(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
