By Alexander Edelson
Staff Writer
The women of the Zeta Theta chapter of Kappa Delta braved Winter Storm Toby to celebrate Shamrock Week, which was comprised of daily events beginning on March 18 to raise money for child abuse prevention charities. The sorority donates money to two organizations, Prevent Child Abuse America and its local subsidiary Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey.
On Monday, the sisters raised money through a donut sale and photobooth.
“We actually did really well with that and I didn’t expect that since it was the first day back from spring break,” said Lindsey Harris, a sophomore journalism and professional writing major and community service chair for Kappa Delta. “We completely sold out, we even had to close early!”
On Tuesday, the sisters collaborated with Red Berry in Campus Town to host a fundraiser. Anyone who mentioned Kappa Delta or presented the event flyer would have 20 percent of their order’s proceeds donated to Prevent Child Abuse America.
The sorority had planned to host a loaded potato sale on Wednesday, but were unfortunately unable to because of the snow day.
Thursday’s event was one of the more lighthearted events of the week: Pie a KD, which took place on Alumni Grove. During the event, students were able to smash a pie in the face of any Kappa Delta sister for the price of a small donation to Prevent Child Abuse America.
“It’s actually doing really well,” Harris said. “Some people just donate since they feel bad pieing people.”
The biggest Shamrock Week event is the annual food truck festival, where Kappa Delta brings in various food trucks for students to enjoy in Lot 12. This year’s food truck festival was far more ambitious than prior years’ because it took place on the same day as Lions Day, which serves as an opportunity for the College’s Admissions Department to showcase the school to prospective students.
“This year we are going to have all those prospective students there, it's going to be very full,” Harris said.
The momentous task of planning the food truck festival became even harder when the sisters of Kappa Delta learned that the College was also hosting a major event on the same day.
“I had to get approval from admissions because Lions Day is their big event. I also had to get permission to have it hosted in a lot on campus, which was a little difficult because Lions Day takes up a lot of parking,” Harris said. “So we got the staff parking lot and it's in the middle of campus so hopefully a lot of people will walk by that.”
When the day finally came, Harris’ hard work paid off. The festival featured food from WTF? Where’s the Food, Philly Fry, Dump’n’roll, Cas’ Pierogi and Kielbasa Food Truck, 1 Potato Two, Zinna’s Bistro, Jeremiah's Custom Cuisine and The Little Sicilian. The event also had a DJ, a seating area and plenty of school spirit.
“The food truck festival is my favorite event of the year,” said Hope Sirimis, a sophomore communication studies and English double major and Kappa Delta sister. “We all come together for one purpose. It's a positive event and a good environment and we all just really want to help the kids.”
Although the festival is a fun opportunity for students to socialize, the sisters never lose sight of the true purpose of the week — to raise money for charity.
“Our money goes toward providing mothers with resources they wouldn’t normally have and a lot of education,” said Diane Danch, president of Kappa Delta and a junior psychology major. “It’s really great because there are so many people on campus, so we get the foot traffic from the Lions Day tours. Prospective students come in and see that these types of events take place on our campus. It shows that we are a community that likes to show support for each other.”
