A commitment to community service prompted a team of 17 African American women to launch the Joliet Area/South Suburban Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and that commitment continues as the group marks its 50th anniversary this month.
“We started as a small chapter and have grown to, at times, to over 500 members. I’m really proud of all of our service work,” said Homewood resident Yvonne Wells, a founding member.
The chapter has about 450 members, and its community service work includes partnering with Blessings in a Backpack to help provide weekend meals to food insecure students in the south suburbs, said chapter President Aisha Barnes.
“Every month, we pack over 600 bags for students,” Barnes said. “We partner with a school and rotate the schools every two years.”
They are now partnered with Harvey Elementary District 152, she said.
The organization’s KISS 100 program, an acronym for Kindness in Service and Sisterhood, annually conducts a Midwest Impact Day of Service.
“We blanket our service area and perform 100 acts of kindness and service,” Barnes said. “We partner with other organizations.”
Last year, the focus of the day was literacy. The Delta chapter felt the topic was important particularly amid initiatives in parts of the country banning books. During the day, it held literacy fairs, distributed banned books and talked to parents about the importance of their children developing healthy reading habits, Barnes said.
They read aloud to 100 children, obtained 100 parent literacy pledges, registered 50 new families for library cards and gave away 1,500 books to children including 50 banned books written by African American authors. Among the banned books they gave away were: “The Hill We Climb,” by Amanda Gorman; “The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person” by Frederick Joseph; and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson.
“We have a Youth Empowerment Conference every year in February,” Barnes said. “We bring middle schoolers and high schoolers together to get information about career planning, making an impact as a young person. It also includes a college fair where we invite over 30 colleges and trades to talk to young people about what does their future look like. During the pandemic, we did the conference virtually.”
The conference will take place at Southwood Junior High School in Country Club Hills this year. It was held at Colin Powell Middle School in Matteson last year, and Taylor Warren, an 18-year-old senior who attends Plainfield South High School, was among participants. She plans to attend college and to major in criminal justice with a minor in psychology.
At the conference, she gained helpful tips on what to do to be prepared for college.
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“They talked a lot about scholarships, how to write essays, about finances,” Warren said.
She said there were also discussions on how to deal with difficult situations one might face.
The Delta chapter runs two mentoring programs, said Barnes. Its Dr. Betty Shabbazz Delta Academy mentors girls ages 11 through 13. Delta GEMS, which stands for Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully, mentors girls ages 14 through 18 in grades nine through 12. Topics include self-esteem awareness, healthy lifestyles, social action, higher education and career development. Students also participate in service learning and community projects.
“Every month they come together,” said Barnes. “It’s usually between 20 and 25 girls. They meet at a school in our service area. We bring in different guest speakers. They work on projects such as vision boards. They may do (science, technology, engineering and math) activities. We have a whole curriculum that we run from October through May.”
Warren is a Delta GEM, and her mother, Kim Warren, said Taylor has benefited from her involvement.
“Over the course of the three years she has been involved, I’ve seen that she has sharpened her skills,” Kim Warren said. “It has helped her grow and enhance her confidence and given her a blueprint as she heads off to college.”
Residents at Pine Crest Health Care in Hazel Crest are familiar with the Delta chapter. Members visit the nursing home monthly to spend time with residents there. During the Christmas holiday season, they gave residents gift baskets, said Katrece Wade, activity director.
“They are a blessing,” Wade said. “Our residents love them.”
The group’s Breakfast With Santa toy drive gives toys and serves breakfast to hundreds of children annually, and its yearly breast cancer walk, which took place in Orland Park in October, raised over $17,000 for the American Cancer Society, said Barnes.
“We were the top fundraiser in this area,” Barnes said.
The chapter’s history includes sponsoring Ebony Fashion Fair Shows for many years, which helped it raise money for college scholarships. Before the well-known annual traveling fashion show created by Johnson Publishing Company ended in 2009, the show helped the chapter award more than $150,000 in scholarships to high school seniors in south suburban Cook County and the Joliet area.
Through other fundraising initiatives, the chapter awarded scholarships totaling $114,000, from 2010-2021, according to its website. The last few years it has given out between $25,00 and $30,000, Barnes said.
Besides working with youth, the group holds political education and voter registration events for adults and programs focused on mental and physical health.
The Delta chapter will celebrate and highlight its golden anniversary with a series of events and activities this year. Its goal this year is to distribute $50,000 in scholarships. It will hold a 50th anniversary soiree in Homer Glen Jan. 12.
Reflecting on its past 50 years, Wells said she’s proud of how the chapter has progressed.
“We’ve come a long way, and we’ve done a lot, but there’s much more work we can still do in the community,” she said.
For more information on the Delta chapter, visit jassacdeltas.org.
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.