Kappa Delta overcomes time crunch to host first philanthropy event

Despite facing a time crunch during the planning process, Kappa Delta’s first philanthropy event “Wing Fling” had a strong turnout of several hundred students. The sorority was able to raise more than $2,000 for its charities: Prevent Child Abuse America and Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Greater Richmond.

Wing Fling was held Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Web – a last-minute change in location from the Forum because of the potential for bad weather. The event featured an all-you-can-eat buffet of chicken wings partially donated by Buffalo Wild Wings, a wing-eating contest and various raffles.

Erin Sorady, a freshman who participated in the wing-eating contest, said she really enjoyed the event.

“I got super messy but it was so much fun,” she said.

Allison Stokes, who joined the Theta Mu chapter of Kappa Delta when it was established at Richmond in the fall, currently serves as the vice president of community service and was in charge of planning Wing Fling.

“With being new on campus, and this being our very first big event, it was important to us that this was successful so that we are able to establish our presence,” Stokes said. It was difficult for Stokes to determine which event would create the most success, though.

“We really stressed during recruitment that chapter members would be able to have a say in what our philanthropy event was, so we couldn’t vote on the event until we had our new members in the spring,” she said. Wing Fling wasn’t finalized until the beginning of March, leaving Stokes less than a month to plan it all.

The biggest issue with planning, Stokes said, was that she had nothing she could look back on to see what worked in the past. Luckily, she said, KD consultants were still there to answer questions, but there were formalities and behind-the-scenes details that nobody was able to walk her through.

Wristbands for the event were sold by members tabling in the commons throughout the week for $5, but could also be purchased for $7 at the door the day of the event. There were always at least 20 girls signed up to table, Stokes said, in order to really push the event on campus. Overall, they sold almost 300 tickets, she said.

Eighty percent of the money raised will be donated to Greater Richmond SCAN and the remaining 20 percent to Prevent Child Abuse America, KD’s national charity, according to the Facebook event page.

“I thought it was a really unique opportunity to have 80 percent of the proceeds stay right in Richmond,” Stokes said. “You can see more of a direct impact than you would at a national level.”