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Pam Pagel of Delta Mu Chapter
Need help? Need a ride? How about some sewing or advice about a physical
condition? Need a listening ear? She’s always there!
Former Honorees
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Epsilon Alpha Chapter Metro Atlanta, GA
“The gift of friendship...a willingness to listen… a pair of helping hands...a whisper from the heart.” For some, life is hard and as sisters we try to ease a little of that burden. Must Ministries is a local organization dedicated to helping families in crisis. We painted 8 ornaments for a wreath to be raffled off to earn funds for this worthy organization. For Foster Care Support, we spent an afternoon sorting diapers, clothing, and baby items in their supplies warehouse. We cheered for our members as they sang in the 1000 Songs for Kids fund raiser that brings musicians year round to hospitals, special needs camps and all places where kids are in need. And when the bloodmobile arrived we donated eight pints of blood. We have also sold cheese steaks at a local arena for ACS Relay for Life, walked for March Of Dimes, helped build a home for Habitat for Humanity and worked at charity golf tournaments for Rainbow Village and Hemophilia. One of our fundraising events is selling beer at a local arena and we can all be found cheerily ripping off the pop tabs and placing them in our Ronald McDonald Home contribution box. All this and it only took 97.5 hours. Children’s education is so important and we try to help as needed. Every fall we can be found scurrying around searching for the best sales on school supplies. This year we were able to donate 16 bags of supplies to the Foster Care Support so that the kids would be prepared for the new school year. We read one-on-one with kindergarten children in RIFE, (Reading is for Everyone). We helped with registration and running an event in the National Science Olympiad competition. But learning is more than schoolwork, so some Saturdays we can be found running bases and cheering with a local Adaptive Baseball League. A lot of fun and warm hearts for only 77 hours and $80. One of our members has a special place in her heart for a local hospital that specializes in crisis pregnancies. As a member of the Sidelines National Support Network, she participates in the subsequent pregnancy After Loss online forum, posting comments and responding to pregnant moms on bed rest. Through Share, she is also a personal support e-mail buddy to a bed-ridden woman. Supporting this cause fully, we have all tried to use our own unique talents to show that someone cares, rejoicing in a healthy birth and supporting those who have lost someone. We have knitted 33 caps for newborns and are in the midst of a major project of making Linus blankets. We have also painted 8 memory boxes for bereaved parents to hold their personal mementoes. These endeavors have taken 100 hours and $131. Every year we sponsor a foster child for the holidays. Realizing that teenagers are often left out at the holidays, this last Christmas we chose a 15 year-old boy. To raise the necessary funds, we participated in a Christmas Bazaar, preparing and selling cookie and dip mixes, knitted scarves, and various craft items. We raised 250 dollars that we promptly spent on clothing, tennis shoes, cds, and fishing supplies. For Operation Christmas Child, an international relief project, we all went shopping and filled eighteen shoe boxes with small toys, art materials, jewelry, hair decorations, tooth and hair brushes and candy and donated monies to cover the postage. We also bought five gas cards and four grocery cards for Operation Helping Hand, a group aiding those in a temporary crisis. Lastly, we painted 12 Christmas ornaments to be put on the dinner trays of children who have to spend their holidays in the hospital. With a jolly “Ho,ho, ho,” we donated over 220 hours and $670 in these projects. In difficult times, we often forget how lucky we really are in the US. Even at our worst – others are far worse. Our hearts also go out to these. We donated two suitcases full of stuffed animals, squishy balls, mini slinkys, foam airplanes, hair bows, and numerous other small items to be handed out by one of our members to Haiti orphans as she helped deliver medical supplies throughout the island. Short term help is nice, but sustainable help is even better. To this end, we held a garage sale raising $211 which we donated to Heifer International to be used to buy a goat, a flock of chickens, a flock of ducks, and a beehive to be given to those in need to help them become self-sufficient in the future. So much good and it only took 150 hours and $260. “The gift of friendship...a willingness to listen...a pair of helping hands...a whisper from the heart.” All of these we offer in the hope that we can make a difference. Totals 644 hours and $1149 with 10 members
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2009 Sigma Beta of the Year 
2009 Olive King Maurer Service Award
