My name is Mikaela Hudson, and I am the Vice President of Membership for the Phoenix Alumnae Club. Some of you may recognize my name from the membership form. As VP of Membership, my job is to track all of the incoming members and help prepare the membership directory. And I have to tell you… I have a very cool job because I get to know all of you! Even though we may not have officially met, I will likely recognize your name and know all about you from your membership form! Speaking of that, this year has been an AMAZING year for membership! We are nearly three months into the 2015-2015 membership year and we are already at a record breaking number of 209 members, with 66 of you being new members to the club!! I want to thank you all for sending me your information. If you have not already joined, there is still time! You can sign up online (click here for online form) or mail in your membership form (click here for printable paper form). We’ll be sending out the directory to everyone by early October.
I want to recap on this year’s Membership Brunch. I had so much fun meeting you all and very much enjoyed learning more about UMOM New Day Center! Attendees were able to tour UMOM and view the book room. Thanks to all of your donations, we collected 29 new stuffed animals for the Kids Need to Read “Reading Buddies” program and 70 new book for UMOM’s book room, which provides a book for 5-12 year olds at Tuesday’s Read to Me program. (On a personal note, if you haven’t attended Read to Me at UMOM, I highly recommend it! It’s on of my favorite Pi Phi activities!!)
Some other highlights from the day are listed below: Membership Survey Winner: Marty McCarty 1st Passport Prize Winner: Paulie Schnakenberg
Helper Halo Recipients: Morgan Sexton – For creating and launching our new website!! You need to see it. She did a fantastic job!! Amanda Montelongo and Briana Davis – These two are who planned Membership Brunch!! They also created those adorable name tags that we all wore. Kate Taylor – Kate played a HUGE role in assembling the fun Pi Phi themed silent auction. We raised $1,330 for the Foundation through the auction and the arrow centerpieces - thank you to everyone that purchased something! Lauren Moore and Leanne Abushar – These two helped manage the silent auction. We couldn’t have done it without them! Trish Larson, CJ Hronek and Diane Smith – For helping to clean the Book Room before the Brunch. They are why it looked so good for the tour! Jada Strieff – This girl has attended NUMEROUS volunteer events already this year. Clearly, she’s a great Pi Phi!
That’s all for me! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!!
Pi Phi Love,
Mikaela Hudson
Collegian Corner
We are so proud of all the collegiate chapters we support - they all had an amazing turnout at recruitment and added some great new members to their chapters. We were happy to be able to support them by providing snacks and goodies during recruitment and helping AZ Gamma with their Bid Day celebration by doing some behind the scenes tasks and prep work. Don't forget the joint sisterhood event with AZ Beta we have planned on Oct 21 - be sure to drop by so you can meet some of their new members and get another stamp for your virtual passport!
AZ Beta at Arizona State University - 87 new members
AZ Gamma at Northern Arizona University - 69 new members
NM Beta at New Mexico State University - 14 new members
If you are interested in attending the initiation ceremonies for either AZ Beta or AZ Gamma, both will take place the first weekend of November. Contact Jennifer Brooks at chaptersupport@phoenixpibetaphi.org for more information on how you can be involved.
AZ Beta Initiation - Nov 8th
AZ Gamma Initiation - Nov 7th
Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg Crest Award Nominee
The Phoenix Alumnae Club of Pi Beta Phi is proud to nominate Carol A. Poore, Ph. D, for the 2015 Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg Crest Award in the category of professional achievement. The Former Grand President for which this award was named was instrumental in ensuring Pi Beta Phi’s leadership development and academic scholarships received ongoing support, and she was also a key player in fundraising for the Pi Beta Phi Foundation. With a background in academic leadership and community development, Carol A. Poore’s accomplishments lie in similar arenas, making her a strong contender for this award. Just a sample of Carol's past and current positions include:
Vice Provost of Institutional Advancement and Public Affairs at Arizona State University’s West.
Adjunct faculty member with the School of Public Affairs at the Downtown campus.
President and CEO of the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, the largest nonprofit HIV/AIDS clinical trial research, chronic disease wellness and prevention/education center in the region.
Vice President of Development at BioAccel, a nonprofit that provides funding and business planning services to develop early-stage life science technologies.
Founder of Phoenix Phabulous Experience™, a company that is piloting urban placemaking, branding/identity building, and civic engagement experiences in partnership with government, community developers, arts/culture, higher education, and nonprofit organizations.
Though her applied skills may lie in leadership and fundraising, Carol’s professional philosophy is grounded in the belief that strong networks create and revitalize healthy communities. Throughout her career, she has fostered such networks between and among both students and professionals, enabling and encouraging countless others to make the world a better place. We believe this type of work is truly in the spirit of Past Grand President Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg’s legacy.
Holiday Greenery Fundraiser
it is an annual tradition with our club to sell fresh holiday evergreens as our fall fundraiser. this year, it is easier than ever to place an order! You can complete your entire shopping transaction, including paying by credit card, online! While there is a limit of 3 items per order, you can place as many orders as you like. PLUS - no manual forms to fill out or the hassle of mailing a check!
We participate in a direct delivery program with a wonderful company located in Northwest Washington State called Sherwood Forest Farms. The direct delivery program allows you to order a fresh greenery gift that will be delivered directly to the designated recipient accompanied by a personalized message on the shipping label. It is very easy to send a holiday surprise to friends and family across town or across the country. The gift items will arrive at the recipient's address withing the first two weeks after Thanksgiving. Greenery can be shipped anywhere within the continental US (sorry - no shipments to Alaska or Hawaii).
The Phoenix Alumnae Club looks forward to another successful fundraiser this year! Funds raised are used for many club activities, including programming and supporting our local philanthropies.
Our sale begins now and the last day to place your order is November 9, 2015. If you would like to place an order but would prefer to not do so online, please email fundraising@phoenixpibetaphi.org and we can send you the information to do a manual order.
SIG Spotlight
This month's spotlight is on Bunco Betas. Come try your luck at this easy to learn 12-person dice game. This group meets quarterly and members take turns hosting.
About Patty: KS Beta (Kansas State University), 1972 Past Pi Phi Roles: Local: Denver Convention Exhibit and Display co-chair, Phoenix Convention Props and Supplies Chair; International: Psi Alumnae Province President (CO and WY), Alumnae Region 6 Director (AZ, CA, HI,NM); Committees: Pocket Task Force Committee, AAC Task Force Committee, Best Practices Committee Family: Married to husband, Mike (Sigma Chi) for 40 years. We have 2 children, Brandon and Lauren (CO Alpha) and they are both expanding our family through theirs! We have 3 grandchildren from Brandon and his wife, Allison - Ivy (7), Paisley (4), and Kai (2), that live in Phoenix. Lauren and her husband, James, live in Denver with 5 month old son Clayton. We also have 2 Shelties. We lived in Denver for 26 years before moving to Phoenix 10 years ago. Why I wanted to be a SIG leader and why you should join: Bunco is an easy way to get to know members of the club, make new friends, and have some FUN! We talk as much as we play. It's a small group that naturally rotates during play - so even if you are new, it's like recruitment in the sense that you get to meet a lot of people. You're playing and suddenly there's a BUNCO, the bells rings, and you either rotate to the next table or two new people join your table. We also bring something to eat or a bottle of wine, so dinner and drinks are included! We are adding a new bunco event this year on a Saturday in the near future - Hunco Bunco. it will be themed and everyone is invited to bring a significant other/husband/boyfriend (but of course everyone is invited to attend, with or without a hunk). It should be a really fun date night! Favorite Phoenix Alumnae Club memory: When I first moved here, the leaders of the Phoenix Alumnae Club knew I was coming and welcomed me warmly. I was on board right away and made new friends. Shortly after that, I lost my new home to a fire and really only knew Pi Phis - I didn't even know my neighbors yet. They rallied around me, bringing essential items we needed, gifts of comfort, and the emotional support I needed in a BIG way!
Angel Updates
Congratulations to our sisters on these exciting events in their lives:
Megan Holland married her fiance, Lance Madden, on 9/20
Briana Davis was accepted into the Public Allies program and, through the program, has started a new job at Civitan Foundation, Inc. She will be building the capacity of the employment services they currently provide for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Laurel Kruke accepted a position at Pierce Energy Planning as an Energy Coach. She will be working closely with the PEP team, K-12 school districts, and other organizations on energy conservation and other sustainability behavior programs.
Sara Foster gave birth to a baby girl, Sydney Kaylen Foster, on 9/21
Leslie Marshall's daughter, Olivia, accepted a bid and is now a new member at AZ Beta
Donna Draper recently visited OR Alpha (University of Oregon) for the chapter's 100th Anniversary Celebration
If you have something you'd like to share with the club, please email communication@phoenixpibetaphi.org to be included in the next newsletter.
October Events
When attending any of the following SIG events, please bring an item to donate to UMOM if you can:
Lunch Bunch, Golden Girls, and Wine and Silver Spoons events: nonperishable food items
Bunco: game items (cards, small board game, etc)
Book Club: Children's books
We are also collecting new, small stuffed animals for Phoenix Panhellenic to donate to the Phoenix Fire Dept in December - please bring to any club event!
