The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Many sororities and fraternities here participate in philanthropy but Gamma Alpha Lambda (GAL) has a special one near and dear to them – making baby blankets for new mothers.
Each year during their rush, members of GAL meet at South Broadway Baptist Church and make tie blankets out of felt to send to Vie Medical Center to be donated.
“Not a lot of people know about Vie (Medical Center) especially if they’re new so we can tell them all about our organization so they can help Vie,” said junior and vice president of membership Kalynn Marrs.
Vie Medical Center does much more than donate blankets to expecting or new mothers. They provide other baby needs such as diapers, formula, and more, as well as free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests for the mother.
In order to make all of their donations happen, in August and September, all the girls ask friends and family for donations to help supply their needs to make blankets.
Junior and treasurer Mikayla Boyd says that they were able to raise almost $600 and got plenty of felt supplies at Joann’s in Joplin.
“Every year we have a Christmas party and Vie gives us a list of what they need in their baskets and we just make a huge stockpile to donate,” said junior and vice president of recruitment Gracie Wansing.
After being able to get all these supplies for new mothers, Vie Medical Center puts them in essentially a closet, where they can go pick out supplies and make baskets containing the homemade blankets.
“We have so much fun (together) and this is a way to further God’s kingdom in the new members and the community,” Boyd said.
This year, Gamma Alpha Lambda is looking at almost 40 new members who have attended their rush events so far. They are a Christian sorority here on campus and they’re main focus is being able to share God’s love to the community here in Pittsburg as well to students on campus.
“Besides making the blankets, we love to have fun and do lots of events… we love to do yoga and play sand volleyball as a sorority..,” Boyd said.
Members of GAL also said that they are very passionate about not just the sorority, but the philanthropy and being able to bring a group of girls together to do so.
“It’s something that we are all really passionate about doing, and giving back to the community and to the people that do really need it (the blankets) and may not be stable on their own,” said sophomore Seeley Murphy.
While Vie Medical Center offers these great services for pregnant women, they as well offer dental and medical services as well as STI testing. They believe in doing these services for free to new mothers so that they can spend that money for more experiences for their child.