Way to go TX Epsilon!

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/09/30/News/Sororities.Earn.Require.High.Academic.Marks-3459742.shtml

Check out the story about that was in the University of North Texas newspaper

TAKE Self Defense Program

http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2008/09/23/News/Pi.Phi.And.Sig.Ep.Unite.To.Save.Womens.Lives-3446142.shtml

Click on the link above to see some publicity about the TX Beta chapter bringing TAKE to their campus.

The article above gives some great information about the TAKE program. TX Beta and OK Beta are bringing TAKE to their campus this fall. There are currently some spots open for the spring if you think this is a program that your chapter would be interested in sponsoring. The calendar fills up quickly so act fast if you are interested. You may contact me or Becky at HQs for more information on TAKE.

Chapter Histories!!!

I wanted to share a smart idea from our AR Alpha chapter with regards to chapter histories. For the Spring History, historian Allie Welty, created their history online. She used a program called Picaboo but there are many others out there like Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, etc. I can really see advantages to this kind of scrap booking...
-most pictures people take are digital-easier for chapter members to send pictures to the historian
-build the history over time-when one event happens go ahead and do the page and save it, come back later to work on other. This way you aren't doing everything at the end
-chapter histories don't contain any Pi Phi ceremonies or ritual so privacy is not really an issue. If you are still worried about keeping your history private, most programs offer a privacy option or only allow those that you have shared your album with to view the album.
-if you do an online newsletter to alums or the chapter, it is so easy to send a link to share your finished history.
-money saving-most of these albums are very reasonable priced and the cost to order the actually book will be comparable to buying scrap booking supplies at local stores.
-when you are submitting your history to the programming specialist, no need to make copies. You can simply send me the link to your chapter history online and proof that you actually ordered the finished book and then email the Chapter History Submittal form and there is no need to actually mail anything.

Sounds really easy to me! I have asked Allie's permission to share the AR Alpha chapter history with you. She has been so nice to answer my questions about her history and how she went about making it. I hope everyone enjoys viewing it! The link is posted below. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me, if I can't answer them then I will probably refer your question to Allie

http://preview.picaboo.com/Webview/CoverPage.aspx?album=0000000000025CC60C&user=0000000000021525A7

FYI...I am in the process of reading monthly letters so please remember to check back because I am going to be posting so good ideas for all sorts of programming issues! I have seen some wonderful ideas so far.

Speed Reads!!

Hi Girls
I just got back from Officer's Workshop yesterday and I got some great information that you can use when planning your Speed Reads! Has anyone checked out the link below? It has lots of great tools for planning your Speed Read. There is even a button on this page where you can Register a Chapter that is hosting a Speed Read and all of the money can be collected online (you know your VPF would love that!)

http://www.firstbook.org/piphispeedread

Let me explain how to use the Register a Team portion of the website-because I was confused about this at first. If you would like to look at a good example-click the link above, look to the right side of the page where it says "Top Teams". I liked the Pi Beta Phi Grand Council b/c it has many team members. Now think of your chapter as the team and your Speed Read participants as the team members. Each team member can customize their page with information about themselves. Your participants (team members) could be members of sororities/fraternities on campus, campus celebrities, or whoever is going to participate in your Speed Read. Then your participants can simply email their page out to people to get donations...or the chapter can email the team page out and get groups to donate based on who they want to win or who they think will do best. And if you collect the actual money at the event there is a place where you can enter that so it can count toward your total. Remember when sending in checks for First Book Speed Reads please send to the address on the website not to Headquarters.

Chapters do not have to use the website, but it is a great tool and makes the money collection super easy!

So far we don't have any Region 6 chapters registered on the website, so I would love to get all of our chapters up there. In fact, I think it would be a good idea to use the First Book website even if you don't plan to take online donations. Make a chapter (team) page and send in the proceeds of your event and watch your chapter reach their Speed Read goal! I know Region 6 can dominate the Top Teams area and raise lots of money for literacy!

I know this might be confusing at first-it sure was to me. So feel free to contact me with questions. If you are creating a chapter page on the First Book website-let me know. If anyone has any good ideas they have used for Speed Reads, please share them with the group-I know everyone is always looking for good ideas!