During the days of March 20 through March 26, sorority Sigma Gamma Rho held a donation drive called Operation Big Book Bag in residence halls on campus to collect donations of school supplies for needy children.According to Sigma Gamma Rho?s president, Janine Owens, the goal of the donation drive was to help collect supplies for children and provide them with easy access to reference materials and studying aids. These materials are becoming more and more important for children to have access to.
Owens said that they wanted to collect these materials in order to help supply and assist shelters, hospitals, and schools to meet educational needs of children and young adults housed in those facilities.
Sigma Gamma Rho wanted to help children gain access to supplies they may not ordinarily have had.
The main objective of the drive was to assist children in their growing need for educational supplies and was very well received by both the sorority and the residence halls.
The residence halls that participated in Operation Big Book Bag set up donation areas in their hall and competed with other residence halls to see who could collect the most supplies. By having the residence halls participate in the drive, Sigma Gamma Rho made this service project a more campus wide project. It was a way to involve more than just the sorority itself.
The halls that participated were Sanderson, Wayne, University Hall, McCarthy, Killinger, The Village/South Campus, and Schmidt Hall. Sanderson collected the most supplies for the drive and won a funnel cake party for their residence hall. By giving the winning hall a prize, Sigma Gamma Rho showed how appreciative they were of the residence halls? participation.
According to Owens, the residence halls that participated were all very eager and willing to help the cause of Operation Big Book Bag. It was a way for more people to get involved with the donation process.
When asked why Sigma Gamma Rho decided to participate in Operation Big Book Bag, Owens said, “It has been a service project of the sororities for many years [and it] serves as an invaluable resource to children.”
Another reason Operation Big Book Bag is so important is that it helps provide children with a means of completing homework assignments and helps them remain current and up to date with the continual growth of educational needs. It is a way to help ensure that children can have the newest materials for class projects.
During Operation Big Book Bag many school supplies were collected.
Owens said, “We collected over 100 items to give away.” Sigma Gamma Rho is still working out where they will donate the supplies to. They are trying to work it out so they can donate the supplies to more than one foundation.
Operation Big Book Bag is just one of the service projects that Sigma Gamma Rho has participated in this semester. Although they have completed their service projects for the semester, they plan on doing many more in the summer and fall.