DAY OF GIVING 2021
The best road trip By Christy Marx Barber, Staff Writer The perfect road trip might include great friends, scenic stops, surprises around every bend and a beautiful destination. With the theme “All Roads Lead to ZTA,” the ZTA Foundation’s second annual Day of Giving, on Oct. 15, 2021, included all those elements and more. “We wanted to honor our Founders on Founders’ Day by emphasizing the connections we make in our sisterhood no matter where life takes us,” said Foundation President Carolyn Hof Carpenter. “We were overwhelmed throughout the day as the donations continued to pour in.”
The Day of Giving’s virtual road trip began at 9 a.m. ET, at ZTA’s original sisterhood site in Farmville, Virginia. The day took donors across the country to view fun, informative videos that revealed each location’s connection to the Founders or ZTA history. The journey stretched from Alaska to California to Texas to Tennessee and ended at International Office in Carmel, Indiana, at midnight ET. Throughout the trip, sisters from all 50 states, Canada and Germany hopped on the turquoise bus with 1,615 donations totaling an incredible $287,240.41. First-time donors accounted for 235 of those gifts.
ROAD TRIP PREP Among the great friends who made the road trip a success were 85 Ambassadors—alumnae members who used their social media platforms before and during the Day of Giving to encourage their circle of friends to donate. The surprises around every bend were made possible by the generosity of these 32 challenge donors:
GETTING THE SHOW ON THE ROAD To start the road trip, ZTA received a combined donation of $3,750 from: NATIONAL PRESIDENT Alicia Patten Williams Theta Psi Texas State University ZTA FOUNDATION PRESIDENT Carolyn Hof Carpenter Theta Tau The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ZTA FRATERNITY HOUSING CORPORATION PRESIDENT Dinah Jackson Laughery Beta Gamma Florida State University
ALL 50 STATES CHALLENGE After a donation from every state (yes, all 50, plus District of Columbia, Canada 22 Themis Winter 2022 | Foundation News
and Germany) ZTA received a gift of $5,000 from Shamim Syed Wu (Theta Omega, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona). Visit ZTADayofGiving.org to view videos about the significance of each location to ZTA’s history.
FIRST-TIME DONOR CHALLENGES After 100 first-time donors, Malaea Nelms Seleski (Eta Rho, University of North Alabama) gave $1,898. After 150 first-time donors, Kelley E. Moulton (Eta Lambda, College of Charleston) gave $5,000.
