Fall 2021
The semester began with our recruitment event: The Adverture Awaits Scavenger hunt. We were able to donate $60 to the Red Cross. During Secret Weekend, we played Family Feud and donated $40 to RAINN. We also held several restaurant fundraisers, one of which took place during Active Week of Service. During Active Week of Service, we participated in Color-A-Smile with Risk, virtual Trivia Night with sisterhood, Game Night with Engineering Outreach and Built By Girls, and ended the week with a Pancake Brunch with SPD. Sisters enjoyed sending Halloween Candy Grams, through which we were able to donate $100 to St. Jude. Our final event of the semester was the Secret Santa Holiday Party with Sisterhood through which we donated over $90 to Camp Kesem. Overall, we raised over $1600 for 10 different charities, including $865 for Crisis Nursery through our Pancake Brunch. We had 36 service hours as a chapter, many of which were from our first in-person semester of Girls2STEM volunteering with Engineering Outreach. We had a great semester, especially for transitioning back to in-person and are grateful for the generosity of our sisters!
Spring 2021
Although we had a virtual semester, we were still able to hold successful, remote Philanthropy events. For Recruitment, we had Retro Arcade Trivia, where everyone was split up into teams and the first and second place teams were able to donate to a charity of their choice. Since in-person events are limited, we decided to hold restaurant fundraisers at Caffe Bene and Kung Fu Tea, which both had high participation. We also organized Valentine’s Day Candygrams, where sisters could send goody bags containing candy and personalized messages to other sisters. An initiative we began this semester with Engineering Outreach was Girls2STEM. We worked with Girls to Life to plan STEM-related, hands-on activities for girls in 3rd-12th grade. We also worked with Merch to sell extra A.O.E. merch in the office, which almost completely sold out within the first few days. While most of our events were virtual, we were able to adjust and still hold several service and fundraising events that our sisters engaged in!
Fall 2020
Philanthropy had a great Fall 2020 semester! We started the semester with our 70’s themed recruitment event on zoom, where the sisters got the chance to introduce themselves to the PNMs in their trivia teams while answering exciting questions about the decade together. The wining team was able to choose a charity from our presented options to donate $40 to! They chose My Block. My Hood. My City. We also promoted a bingo board fundraiser on Instagram during the month of September for the nonprofit Brave Space Alliance. The chapter raised over $263 for Brave Space Alliance from this bingo board! This bingo board was so well received that we did another one in November for MakerGirl. For the “Search Part” we met with sisters on zoom to search up random, funny information about a variety of topics and then comapred who could come up with the funniest answers or pictures! We all downloaded the Google Chrome extension Ecosia beforehand so that our searched would be torwards getting more trees planted! In order to give sisters more ways to give back, we shared small blurbs in our minutes on ways to give back easily. For example, one of our donate grains of rice to children in need. We also wrote a blurb that included instructions for how to donwload the Google Chrome extension Ecosia so that sisters who did not have a change to attend our Ecosia Search Party could still donwload the extension and get more trees planted with their google searched.
Spring 2020
We hosted a candy themed recruitment trivia event where the first and second place teams chose to donate $30 to Dress for Success and $20 to Animal Welfare Institute. We also held a Color-a-Smile event where girls colored in pictures and we sent them to local hospitals. We were not able to follow through with the other events we had planned for the semester due to the transition online.
Fall 2019
Philanthropy had a great turn out for the Fall 2019 semester! We started the semester with our outer space themed recruitment event which was “Out of This World Trivia”. The sisters got the chance to bond with PNMs by participating in trivia teams together in which the winning team could choose a charity of their choice to donate $35 to and the second place team could choose one to donate $25 to! For Day Away, each girl helped create a DIY puzzle that they could decorate outer-space themed! We donated all of the puzzles to Toys for Tots. We also held a Color-A-Smile event, co-hosted with Risk Management, that we were able to print several of coloring sheets from Color-A-Smile’s website, color them together, and mail them back in to go to local hospitals. Additionally, we had philanthropy secret santa, benefitting Water.Org, that was co-hosted with Sisterhood, in which everyone paid $2 and got to participate in the fun secret santa party. For our semesterly philanthropy dinner, we hosted a Mac & Cheese Dinner with Triangle, raising over $725 for The Crisis Nursery! Thank you to everyone who made this a great semester for the community!
Spring 2019
For our recruitment event, we put together a fun & challenging Jungle Themed Trivia. In April, we raised over $1600 for Crisis Nursery through their Mac & Cheese dinner.
Fall 2018
We started off with a fun round of bingo, donating money to various nationwide charities. The super adorable toy airplanes were assembled and donated to little kids through Toys for Tots while out amazing coloring from Day Away was sent through Color-A-Smmile for the ederly and thsoe in the military. All the proceeds from Mac’n’Cheese dinner went to the Human Society, and the dinner was a great success! We closed the year with a super fun Secret Santa with Sisterhood! All the donations will be given to cute little doggos and kittens. Thanks for a great semester!
Spring 2018
This semester was a big hit for philanthropy! We started off the semester with a puzzle decorating recruitment event, where girls were able to meet the new PNMs and design puzzles for the Carle Hospital Child Life Team. We also participated in Habitat for Humanity’s Annual Broomball Tournament, which granted us 5 build spots for the upcoming fall semester! At Day Away, all of our sisters helped make tie blankets and stuffed animals for Cunningham Children’s Home. For our semesterly philanthropy dinner, we switched it up a little and instead of doing a pancake dinner, we had a macaroni and cheese dinner with Triangle. We raised $1,179 for Relay for Life. A couple of our sisters also walked 6 miles each at the Relay event! Lastly, we wrapped up the semester by participating in Boneyard Creek Community Day. It was wonderful to be able to clean up the creek that we pass by everyday as we walk through the engineering quad. Thank you for a lovely semester full of successful philanthropy events!
Fall 2017
With the help of all of our lovely sisters, this semester we were able to make an impact on many lives. Early in the semester, the dog treats we made were donated to the Champaign County Humane Society both to help increase the quality of life of the dogs in the shelter and to help the shelter staff train them. We were able to raise over $1000 with the help of Sigma Phi Delta Fraternity through our bi-annual Pancake Dinner. The money was donated towards furthering disaster relief in Puerto Rico, following Hurricane Maria, through Red Cross. With the help of Triangle Fraternity, we were able to raise over $150 for Habitat for Humanity through selling hot chocolate and cookies. We have also donated 23 pounds of food to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank through our Thanksgiving food drive to put dinner on the tables of underprivileged families in the area. We ended the semester with a clothing drive for sisters to donate clothes they no longer wore. The clothing collected was donated to Twice is Nice Thrift Shop at the First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, which benefits organizations such as Eastern Illinois Food Bank, Don Moyer’s Boys & Girls Club, Courage Connection, Smile Healthy, and Prosperity Gardens. We also brought back the Secret Santa with Sisterhood, for sisters to have an opportunity to give to each other as well. Thank you all for opening your hearts so much this semester to help us help those in need.
Spring 2017
Wow – what a great semester! We were able to raise over $1000 to donate to the American Cancer Society for Relay for Life through hosting Pancake Dinner with Triangle, and the candidates (with the SPD pledges) were able to raise nearly $500 by canning on Green Street to donate to the Crisis Nursery (a women and children’s shelter). Also, special shout-out to our chapter’s Shi Ai representatives Sarah G. and Jackie O. who were able to help raise over $90 to donate to Courage Connection, a organization that provides support services for women and children experiencing homelessness or who are victims of domestic violence! One of our concluding events, the Boneyard Creek Community Clean Up was cancelled because of heavy thunderstorms. However, our chapter was still able to get involved with multiple service projects for local charities through events such as making cat toys and volunteering at the Douglas animal shelter, making blankets for the Crisis Nursery at Day Away, and participating in Relay for Life. The both of us had a great time serving as the Philanthropy Co-Chairs this semester!
Fall 2016
Thank you to all of you who were able to participate in our philanthropy events. With your support we were able to help and impact many organizations. The dog toys that we made early in the semester with the Vice President during Recruitment were donated to the Champaign County Humane Society where they now amuse animals during their wait for a loving home. The stuffed animals we made during Day Away were donated to Cunningham Children’s home and played with by young children. The proceeds from Pancake Dinner were also donated to FIRST Robotics, a non-profit charity which encourages K-12 school students to pursue careers in STEM by providing mentor based research and robotics programs. Our last event was the Secret Santa with Sisterhood to celebrate the end of the semester and kick off the winter holiday season with a fun gift exchange between sisters.
Spring 2016
During the Spring 2016 semester, together we have been able to help many organizations. Our profits from Pancake dinner were donated to Habitat for Humanity, an organization who builds houses for less fortunate families in the Champaign area. For the annual Relay for Life event at U of I, we were able to raise $830 which was donated to the American Cancer Society to be used for cancer research. Through smaller events, we made stuffed animals for children in a nearby children’s home, dog and cat toys for a humane society who takes in abandoned animals, and care packages and cards for military men and women overseas and veterans back at home. During finals week, we collected used textbooks to be donated to Orphan’s Treasure Box, a local store that sells used books online to generate money for orphans and families in need both in the United States and worldwide!
Fall 2015
During the Fall 2015 semester, Alpha Omega Epsilon partnered with Illini Service Dogs, an on-campus philanthropic organization. Illini Service Dogs is the first program that allows college students to train service dogs from puppy hood to placement. After the service dog has completed training, the dog is placed with a person with a disability free of charge. Our profits from an Insomnia Cookie Fundraiser and Pancake Dinner this semester will be donated to the organization’s financial burdens.
Spring 2015
The ladies of Alpha Omega Epsilon focused on two different philanthropic goals during the Spring 2015 semester. The first half of the semester was dedicated to Relay for Life. By partnering with the brothers of Sigma Phi Delta fraternity for Pancake Dinner, we were able to raise $2,604 for the American Cancer Society. The second half of the semester was devoted to our local Champaign-Urbana community. By hosting Spaghetti Dinner with Triangle fraternity and continuing our annual tradition of a Broomball Tournament with Sigma Phi Delta, we raised $800 for CU at Home.