Obama’s Call Is a BU Tradition
A sorority supports needy children in China and cures for breast cancer
| From Commonwealth | By Amy Laskowski
Jenny Giang (CAS’09) and her sorority sisters have raised more than $4,000
to fight breast cancer.
Photo by Kalman Zabarsky
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama called for expansion of the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and other national service programs. “It is time to recapture that sense of a common purpose,” he said in a 2007 speech in Iowa. “I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper.”
Since then, Americans have responded to the call. By November 2008, Teach for America had received more than 14,000 applications, a 48 percent increase from 2007. The Peace Corps saw applications increase 16 percent from fiscal year 2007 to 2008, with a large spike in applications around the time of Obama’s inauguration, on January 20.
At BU, students have long been involved in philanthropic efforts. The sorority sisters of Alpha Kappa Delta Phi (AKDPhi), the first and only Asian-interest sorority on campus, for example, have volunteered at the Boston Marathon and hosted the annual Hope Show, raising money for underprivileged children in China.
But the primary philanthropic interest of AKDPhi, says Jenny Giang (CAS’09), cochair of BU’s Multicultural Greek Council and an AKDPhi sister, is the fight against breast cancer. Over the past year, the sorority has raised more than $4,000 for breast cancer research.
“I think it’s important to volunteer, because it shows others that there’s support,” Giang says. “You’re not alone. You may feel that others aren’t out there, but the world really does care.”
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