"Gotta Have Gant"

As part of my position in Phi Mu as Public Relations Chairman this semester, I was in charge of the Ms. Georgia College Campaign. I began working on this back in December brainstorming ideas and different themes. 

Phi Mu choose Erin Gant as our candidate in early January and I immediately began working. The first step was to come up with a slogan. Erin is a free spirit and I wanted to come up with a theme that represented both her and the ladies of Phi Mu. I went through a few themes and decided to stick with "Gotta Have Gant" because it was short, sweet and easy to remember. Erin liked the color teal so we choose that. I was so excited because our "secret weapon" was the yard signs this year. They are much easier than chalking and looked very clean around campus. We designed the yard signs, stickers, posters, a Facebook picture and a t shirt as promotional items.

I wanted to make the campaign fun and interactive that the students of Georgia College would enjoy so we decided to give away colorful candy, popcorn and cotton candy. The cotton candy was a huge hit! We gave away around 500 servings that day. 

Erin was crowned Ms. Georgia College and I was so honored to be a part of her campaign. I was very proud of how everything looked and how smoothly the process ran. I learned a lot from this experience and I know better how to work with a team, delegate responsibilities and run a successful campaign. Thanks to everyone who supported Phi Mu and voted for Erin Gant!

Phi Mu Fraternity Celebrates 158 years of sisterhood

The ladies of Phi Mu Fraternity at Georgia College and State University celebrated their National Founders Day on March 4, 2010.

The Gamma Sigma Chapter of Phi Mu began the celebration by supporting National Badge Day on Monday and wearing pink to campus followed by a Founders Day Ceremony, "Pink & Pearls", with the local Milledgeville Alumnae Chapter. With old stories and dessert, these women were able to bond over many generations of sisterhood. Phi Mu is the oldest sorority at GCSU and has been on campus for 36 years.

"It was really interesting to hear what Phi Mu at GCSU was like in the past and it makes me excited for so many more memories we will get to share together," said Brenda Bryant, an active member in Phi Mu Fraternity.

On Thursday, March 4, Phi Mu hosted a Rock-A-Thon on the GCSU campus and collected spare change for their national philanthropy, The Children's Miracle Network.

Gamma Sigma President, Brooke Brookins said, "Rock-A-Thon is a creative way to benefit CMN and get the students at GCSU involved. This is our second year hosting a Rock-A-Thon and all the Phi Mu's love participating."

Phi Mu Fraternity is the second oldest secret society for women, and was founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga by Mary Dupont Lines, Mary Myrick Daniel and Martha Hardaway Redding in 1852. Phi Mu has chapters across the United States and nearly 150,000 collegiate and alumnae members. Phi Mu provides personal academic development, service to others, commitment to excellence and lifelong friendships through a shared tradition. Phi Mu encourages our members to imagine, believe and achieve their aspirations.

The Founders' Day Challenge

In honor of Mary, Mary and Martha, Phi Mu Foundation is launching its first ever chapter challenge virtual campaign. Their goal is to raise $18,520 in the month of March in honor of our Founder's Day on March 4th. The Foundation asked every Phi Mu to give up one dinner out to eat and donate it Phi Mu Foundation. They made it very simple by going to www.phimufoundation.org or Phi Mu Foundation's Facebook page and click the GIVE NOW button. Phi Mu Foundation supports leadership, scholarship and philanthropy. Their slogan is Women Helping Women...Sisters Helping Sisters. I personally thought this challenge was unattainable and did not believe it could be made in one month but boy was I proven wrong. Today is March 7th and we have already surpassed our goal! I attended Phi Mu Leadership Academy this weekend in Peachtree City where all current chapter presidents, one emerging leader and chapter advisor attended a leadership seminar. Before we arrived in PTC the Foundation had already raised $6,000. They made a presentation and asked us to give that day and boy did we! Three leaders from each Phi Mu chapter together raised $13,134.98 making the current total $18,670.50! We passed the goal within 30 minutes. Of course Phi Mu Foundation does not want to stop there and will continue to ask our chapters to give because they give back so much to the collegiate chapters but it is amazing to me that that much was raised in so little time. This challenge was great PR for Phi Mu Foundation because many collegiate members did not know what the money they give to the Foundation goes toward and now that all chapter presidents are fully informed they will take the information back to their chapter and ask them to give. A part of this challenge is that National Headquarters is bringing in a trained Foundation member to speak to every collegiate chapter across the US and better inform them. This will take a lot of money and time planning this travel but they believe it will be worth while to be personal with the girls. I love everything Phi Mu Foundation stands for and I am happy to donate my money to help my sisters today as well as tomorrow.

Ms. GCSU Campaigning

It's that time of year again when banners hang, Facebook groups are made and tables by the fountain are abundant, Ms. GCSU campaigning. Sororities and large RSO's at GCSU take this week to campaign for their candidate and try to get their member to be GCSU's homecoming queen. In my personal opinion the campaigning at Georgia College is WAY over the top. Most schools make a Facebook group and stickers and call it a day, but not GCSU, we must think of slogans, and make it a cat fight to see who will win. Chalking the sidewalks causes the most controversy and thankfully GCSU decided to make it illegal to chalk this year which I know all sororities were thankful for. Phi Mu has big shoes to fill because our Keri Allgood was Ms. GCSU last year and we would love to carry on the title. In Phi Mu this campaign is the job of the Public Relations Chairman but it literally takes the whole sorority to get the job done. My roommate is a candidate so I have done a lot of the campaign work for this year's Ms. GCSU elections. As a PR major I know what needs to be done and in what fashion so I do not mind taking it upon myself to get most of the work done. Her name is Emily Brown and her slogan is "Brown for the Crown". We also have used the UPS logo and said "What can BROWN do for YOU?" I have designed many of the flyers and posters she is using in her campaign as well as the Facebook group. Although this is stressful for me, Emily deserves to win and it is all worth it. I hope Saturday at the Basketball game when they announce the winner her name is called and all of our hard work will have been worth while. Good luck to all the candidates and let the best PR win!

Haiti Earthquake Relief

Mobile giving for the Haiti Earthquake Relief has reached over $30 million in donations. This money has been donated from Americans and Canadians and it is very simple by the Mobile Giving Foundation. You can donate money by texting a keyword to a designated short code via a mobile phone, a micro-donation of $5 or $10 can be made to aid the millions of people affected by this tragedy. 100% of your donation goes to the recipient charity, and the donation appears as a charge on your carrier bill, standard rates may apply. Tweets such as "Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to @RedCross relief" helped make others aware of ways to donate.

It is amazing to me that by simplifying the way people can donate money, numbers fly through the ceiling! Standing in front of a mall with a bucket asking for donations is no longer the way to go. People like for things to be short and sweet and the Mobile Giving Foundation has done just that. I really like this form of PR because it is actually benefiting people in need. This campaign has shown us that people are willing to give, you just must figure out a way that is convenient for them.

I felt most inclined to donate to and promote the Children's Miracle Network fund in Haiti. This special fund will directly benefit pediatric hospitals in the Children’s Miracle Network that are supporting the Haiti crisis relief efforts. Here are just a few examples of how Children’s Miracle Network hospitals are supporting Haiti relief and the type of care that will be supported by the Children’s Miracle Network Haiti fund:

-Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh accepted more than 50 Haitian orphans into the hospital; all are triage patients.

-The US Department of Health and Human Services has asked Le Bonheur Children’s in Memphis, Tenn. to provide two pediatric medical teams to assist in Haiti – a surgical critical care team and a critical care transport team. The hospital is also sending supplies and pharmaceuticals to Haiti.

-Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, R.I. sent two craniofacial surgeons, one of which previously spent a year working in Haiti. Medical supplies - including surgical packs, gauze, scalpels, sutures, anesthesia, gowns, surgical drapes, and more - have also been provided to the area.As part of Orlando Health-Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is collaborating with the US Department of Health and Human Services and other organizations to provide support and care to evacuees coming to Central Florida who need medical treatment.

Phi Mu's philanthropy is CMN so this is very close to my heart and I am very happy to see this up and thriving. You can donate $10 to the CMN Haiti Fund by texting "HAITICMN" to 85944.

When you Google search "Haiti Earthquake Relief" it actually scrolls through tweets of people talking about the Haiti Relief Fund. It is so cool that we not only have access to this type of technology such as Twitter, but you can actually see what people are talking about. This technology has been a huge help to the people of Haiti and I am so glad that so many people find the need to give.