Lambda Zeta Zeta Helps the Needy in 2008

The year 2008 may have been the start of an economic downturn,but the women of the
Bessemer chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. still found time to have fun and help the
needy. Zeta Phi Beta, Inc. holds chapters in four regions and has 22 chapters total in Alabama.
Calandra McDonald is the area coordinator of region three. McDonald is a liaison for each
of the cities that are in the region, which includes Bessemer, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Talladega and Aliceville. Lambda Zeta Zeta is a community- based sorority. The women call their motto Z-Hope, which is an acronym for Zeta’s Helping Other People Excel. Most members join one of the chapters while in college. Others join the Graduate Chapter, which is when a person joins the sorority after they graduate. Lambda Zeta Zeta held a 70’s disco night party and scholarship fundraiser on Nov. 1, 2008 at the Bessemer City Auditorium. They invited D.J. Mighty Flam to get the party started. Tickets were sold to help pay for food baskets for various families. Cash prizes, novelties and gift cards were given to the ones dressed in the best 70’s costume. Some members donated money to the scholarship fund. Nov. 15, 2008, Lambda Zeta
Zeta sponsored Prematurity Awareness weekend by holding a seminar at the Greater St. Paul
CME Church in Bessemer. This served as the sorority’s effort to support the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. The campaign goals are to increase public awareness of the problem of prematurity and to decrease the incidence of premature birth. Pamphlets were handed out to
the ones in attendance and a sorority sister spoke on the causes and ways to decrease premature
birth. On Dec. 13, 2008, Lambda Zeta Zeta participated in the annual Bessemer Christmas
parade. They drove a car and passed out candy to the children. The sorority also gave
Christmas gifts of clothing and toys to a family in the Bessemer area. The chapter also gave gifts to two angels from the Angel Tree in Bessemer’s Chief of Police Nathaniel Rutledge’s office. The women of Lambda Zeta Zeta participated in a can food drive also. The can foods were donated to food banks to help those in need. The sorority held founder’s day, which celebrates the founding
of the sorority, on Jan. 11, 2009, at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in West Highland.
The Rev. L.G. Young gave the women a message to start their year off. One member, Mary Dean Thomas, is the director of Project Chance, a GED dropout pilot program that was founded
by Sen. E.B. McClain and former representative Lawrence McAdory in 1996. They also collaborated with Dr. Ethel Hall, Assistant Superintendent of Alabama Department of Education and Dr. Yvette Richardson, former superintendent of the Fairfield Board
of Education. This project gives young people a second chance at success to students who have been expelled, suspended or quit school. It targets inner-city students in Bessemer and Fairfield.
In addition to, the activities above, Lambda Zeta Zeta women also give scholarships to
high school seniors. The student can get the application and information packet from one of the 19 members. The scholarship will pay for student’s books or part of their tuition. The deadline is April 3. Zeta will be participating in the March of Dimes on May 16, 2009, at Debardeleben Park in Bessemer. Zeta holds monthly meetings in the library every second Saturday at noon. For more information on the sorority or scholarship call President Glenda McCarroll at 205-925-1567.