Alpha Chi Omega sorority helped fight domestic violence Wednesday by Wingin’ It with the Baker University campus.
“Wingin’ It” was an all you can eat wing night open to all students and staff for $7 from 9 to 11:30 p.m. The event raised money and awareness for the sorority’s philanthropy, supporting victims of domestic violence.
“Our philanthropy is really hard to promote because it’s not something people talk about much,” philanthropy chair Hannah Schaake said. “There’s not a national movement against domestic violence, so we thought we needed to become bigger in campus.”
All proceeds from the event will go to the Willow Domestic Violence Center, the first battered women’s shelter in Kansas, which has been struggling financially in that last few years. The center is in Lawrence.
The center’s website said it “provides safe-shelter, peer counseling, advocacy and other services to survivors of domestic violence in Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties.”
Senior Anna Stramel has worked in a shelter before, so the philanthropy means a lot to her.
“Philanthropy is the biggest reason I joined a sorority,” Stramel said. “And I’ve gotten even more passionate about it since I worked at a domestic violence shelter over the summer.”
In the past, Alpha Chi Omega hosted a booth at the annual Maple Leaf Festival where the women sold bracelets in order to fundraise for the center. The women have also co-hosted the annual Spiking Out Domestic Violence and Youth AIDS volleyball tournament with Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity for the past ten years.
This year however, members wanted to do more.
“Two events weren’t enough to satisfy us anymore,” Stramel said. “We feel like we can never do enough.”
Schaake and Stramel started planning the event last January and got the idea from another Alpha Chi Omega chapter.
“It’s kind of cool because there is an Alpha Chi [Omega] chapter in Colorado that did the same thing the night before our event, but with nachos,” Stramel said.
Schaake said a few women from the Baker chapter went to Colorado to help with recruitment and that’s when they found out about that chapter’s nacho night.
“It’s kind of cool to see all our chapters doing things in their own way to help our philanthropy,” Stramel said.
According to the Willow Domestic Violence Center website, the center “believes in the empowerment of survivors of domestic abuse” and “that the woman is the expert in her own experience.”
Buffalo Wild Wings in Lawrence donated sauce while the wings came from Alpha Chi Omega’s normal food provider.
“We made really close to $650,” Schaake said. “That is about how much (Alpha Chi Omega) makes at Spiking Out. It’s really good for us, especially for it being the first time we have this event.”
Schaake said about 53 people attended the event, but official numbers were not available at presstime.
“We had about 150 wings left,” Schaake said. “The first group of guys, it was four upperclassmen and they arrive 15 minutes early. They just demolished so many chicken wings, it was impressive.”
