B U I LT F O R S I S T E R H O O D
A Place to Call Home For many Pi Phis, living in the chapter facility is a once–in-a-lifetime experience. The opportunity to be surrounded by sisters allows members to grow and thrive in environments where they know they will find support. It’s often said that Pi Phi is a home away from home, but for many sisters looking for a place of comfort and solace it is so much more. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, chapters across North America were forced to close their doors for the remainder of the term. As the pandemic continued into the fall, universities and chapters had to decide whether they would open their facilities for the 20202021 academic year. Each chapter and campus faced the lengthy and challenging decision to open housing facilities – requiring a great deal of planning and preparation. For the California Zeta Chapter, planning started with the hope to welcome members home to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus for the fall term, but
necessitated flexibility and collaboration to do so. After several meetings with chapter officers, Alumnae Advisory Committee members, Fraternity Housing Corporation (FHC) and the Region Eight Team, California Zeta was able to reconfigure its housing policies and design a transition plan with additional COVID-19 safety measures including increased cleanings, House Director trainings and a quarantine and isolation plan. California Zeta chapter officers and volunteers knew what opening the facility would mean to sisters. “It was important for members to have a place in the chapter facility because several of our members did not have options outside of the chapter house,” Vice President Finance/Housing BRITTNEY ROGERS says. “They had relied on living at Pi Phi.” While many members were able to accommodate the housing changes brought on by the pandemic, several members faced increased stress and additional challenges. There were several out-of-state members who
From left, California Zetas EMMA SCHABERG, KATIE PETERSEN and EMMA BRAUER during the chapter's first-ever virtual 5K philanthropy event, Running For Readers.
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