Delta Delta Delta Cooks for the Cure

Sept. 23, 2005 -- The University of Wyoming Delta Delta Delta chapter will host an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, "Cakes for the Cure," Saturday, Oct. 1, from 8 a.m.-noon.

The event will be at the Tri Delta chapter house located at 1616 E. Sorority Row in Laramie. Tickets, available at the door, cost $3 each or $5 per couple. The menu includes flapjacks, juice, bacon, sausage, and, everyone's favorite, according to organizers, "sinful potatoes."

All proceeds go to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Last year, the local organization raised $1,150 with the annual fund-raiser.

"Our goal for this year is to double the money we raise with Cakes for the Cure to at least $2,300," says Whitney Lenz, Tri Delta philanthropy chair. Tri Delta Vice President of Public Relations Stacia Berry says, "We want this to be a big blow-out event. We're stepping up to do everything we can to help these kids, but we can't do it without the help of the campus and Laramie communities."

Lenz, who visited St. Jude in Memphis, Tenn., last summer, says, "St. Jude is an absolutely amazing hospital, there is just so much hope for those children who are there.

"It costs $1 million a day to keep the hospital running," Lenz says, noting that St. Jude receives $70 million a year from federal funds. "That seems like a lot of money, but it keeps the hospital running for only 70 days. The rest of the time they rely on donations and grants."

In 2002, members of Tri Delta’s national Executive Board decided on a four-year, $1 million commitment to maintain the St. Jude Teen Room, a safe haven for the teenage patients to hangout away from parents, hospital staff and young kids.

With the so-called "Partnership of the Heart," Tri Delta, with a rich history of donating time, energy and money to worthy causes, became the first fraternal organization to form an official partnership with a national organization. In the summer of 2004, Tri Delta completed the goal two years ahead of schedule, reporting a project total of $1.3 million.

"Tri Delta completed the teen room fund-raising goal, but that doesn't mean our support will stop," Lenz says. "I hope people see what an easy opportunity this is to contribute to something so powerful. It's a wonderful feeling to volunteer for something that can break your heart and at the same time put it back together with hope."

Posted on Friday, September 23, 2005