During the month of September, the ladies of Gamma Chi Delta had an extraordinary opportunity on social media to raise $5000 through Kendra Scott, a well-known jewelry company. The sorority competed against three other sororities from different colleges, including Louisiana State University, Arizona State University, and the University of Central Oklahoma, in the #YouDoGood contest. For this particular contest, the Kendra Scott Facebook page posted pictures and links to each of the four sororities, and whichever organization received the most likes would win $5000 to donate to their philanthropy, as well as a $5000 Kendra Scott gift card. Although our university’s sorority was up against larger organizations at bigger universities, Gamma Chi Delta stood out as an impressive competitor.

Gamma Chi Delta throws a benefit concert every year to raise money to send children to their philanthropy, Camp Discovery, a program that sends patients suffering from illnesses such as cancer to camp. Since the formation of Concert for the Cure in 2005, the sorority has donated over $150,000 towards the cause; an additional $5000 from the Kendra Scott contest would have allowed the members of the sorority to donate enough money for five more patients to attend Camp Discovery.

“Over the summer, our Concert for the Cure chair, Nicole Thomason, sent out an email that Kendra Scott was doing a contest, and because some of us had gone to visit Camp Discovery this summer, we felt like we could make a really cool video. So we made one and entered it,” said Claire Poland, a sophomore member of the sorority.

The video appealed to the  contest-holders, and as September began, so did the race to get earn the most likes.

In order to garner as many likes as possible, the members of Gamma Chi Delta used as many resources as they could.

“We reached out to every network we had, from people who some girls had interned with over the summer, to our alumni, to people on campus that could broadcast it to a larger pool,” Poland said.

Although Gamma Chi Delta was a smaller, less familiar sorority than its competitors, the members were able to reach out and obtain a significant amount of likes.

“I felt so proud that our organization, a local sorority, could compete with three national sororities at huge schools. I mean, we got more likes on our photo than students at Trinity,” Poland said.

No matter the results, the ability to participate in this contest was phenomenal, and the members of Gamma Chi Delta are proud to have been included.

“Mostly I was honored to be able to be in a club with girls who are passionate about the philanthropy we support,” Poland said.

Although the sorority didn’t win, the opportunity was a remarkable way to bring the members of Gamma Chi Delta closer together, while simultaneously bringing the entire Trinity community and surrounding areas together to help support a tremendous cause.