by Laney Stevenson, ThetaOmicron Omega Chapter

In the words of Dr. Glenda Glover, International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., “To honor and commemorate Dr. King’s spirit and legacy of service, AKA chapters around the world engaged themselves in impactful work in their communities in observance of our fifth Impact Day- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Impact Day.”  In 1957, while addressing an audience in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. King asked the question that, according to Dr. Glover, should resonate with all of us. Dr. King stated: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”

In commemoration of what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King’s 90th Birthday Celebration, local sorority members participated in the 32nd Annual Freedom March, sponsored by the King Commission of Rome and Northwest Georgia, Inc.   The sorority also collected over 100 pairs of shoes for the “Soles for Souls” Project and nearly 100 pairs of glasses for the Lions Club in Cartersville.  Additionally, the sorority sponsored the “Letter to Dr. King” essay contest for local students including Theta Omicron Omega’s 2019 Lords and Ladies participants.  The winners were announced during the cotillion participants’ observance of the MLK Jr. Day of Service at the Mellow Mushroom in Rome.  Essay contest participants were asked to write a letter to Dr. King expressing their thoughts on the current “state of affairs” in our country and around the world since his untimely death.  The following winners read their essays at the MLK observance: Third Place: Teddy Collins, a senior at the Phoenix Learning Center; Second Place, Brooklyn Berryhill, a sophomore at Villa Rica High School and First Place, Amyia Crowder, a junior at Cedartown High School.  The essays were judged by a panel from Shorter University, Rome, GA.

Theta Omicron Omega Chapter consistently reaches out to each of its service areas not only during the King Birthday Celebration Weekend but throughout the year.  This past December, the sorority donated over 100 warm head wear, gloves and scarves to students at West Central Elementary in Rome, donated hundreds of canned goods and other non- perishable foods to the Salvation Army also in Rome, and provided warm blankets for the Men’s Shelter in Cartersville, GA.

Under the leadership of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s International President, Dr. Glover, five (5) target areas have been designated for carrying out the mission of the sorority.  They include: education, health, finances, arts and culture, and global service. Theta Omicron Omega Chapter has embraced each target, and in so doing, the chapter has outlined its service program for the upcoming year and beyond. Upcoming projects include but are not limited to the following: distributing a Women’s Health Checklist within local communities; hosting Smart Nutrition and Wellness Shopping Tours with Whole Foods; providing a Knowing Your Credit Score workshop; providing targeted students with SAT/ACT Prep sessions; observing Heart Healthy Month in February; sponsoring a CPR training class; encouraging “ Meatless Mondays” for the month of March; revisiting the Harlem Renaissance with an emphasis on the Black Arts Movement; sponsoring a Health Fair to include a mobile mammography unit; tracking Black Business Dollars; partnering with other local arts group; assisting students as they begin to seek financial aid; planning for the future with an emphasis on savings; participating in our Annual “ Relay for Life” fundraiser; and observing and fundraising for “ The Longest Day” during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.

Like the chapter on facebook https://www.facebook.com/thetaomicronomega

Photo: McKensey Wheeler, second from left, with other staff and a student of West Central Elementary in Rome, GA