Philanthropy

The Wichita Alumnae Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta has a strong philanthropic tradition! It is part of our mission to support our national foundation, local chapters and area community causes through philanthropic activities. For many years our chapter organized the Antique Boutique, an antique sale that was locally renowned. The Antique Boutique first was held at Cessna and later at the Botanica Gardens. Our Wichita Alumnae Chapter used to raise one of the highest fund amounts out of all Theta Chapters in the country. The Antique Boutique was very labor intensive and as our membership became more career oriented it became too overwhelming so we began to look forward to new fundraising activities.

For the past several years, our fall fundraiser has included a mum sale which took place during our traditional first meeting and salad supper. During the summer and early fall Theta sell mums to our friends and also buy them for ourselves. Our mum supplier from Eureka Greenhouse delivers our order during the first meeting. (Theta sisters with circle driveways seem to always be a popular host for this event!) Our mums seem to always be extraordinarily beautiful so it is easy to pick out our Theta gardens and porches around the city. This helps in selling to our friends as they love our sale too. In 2007 we raised over $1,600 and closer to $1,000 in 2008. We also crowned a Mum Queen who is the member who sold the most mums – usually Anna Mills or Ingrid Gill!

We also have a second fundraiser in the spring which has customarily been the Decades Dinner. Each decade hosts a dinner in their home for the girls from that era and we have a raffle for usually a really great prize. Last year we were fortunate enough to give away a certificate to a new aesthetics center which we all wanted. We did also raise over $1,000 for this event. The 50’s generation and above seems to always attract the most attendees – I did stop by Janet Smiths 50’s party to check out what was the attraction. I now know why as they always have the best wine and they laugh a lot! One sister told me that they had been together forever too. This enables us to donate our funding to several great causes including CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocate which is a wonderful organization that acts on a child’s behalf in the legal system over time. We also support scholarships to collegiate women and fund Theta chapter house college projects. Our membership also mans the Angel Tree during Christmas in order to collect gifts for children in need as a community service. All in all, we have a great time and are fortunate to have an incredibly generous membership of bright and giving women.