[New Britain, CT] January 20, 2024| The Theta Alpha Sigma Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. hosted its 8th Annual “It Takes A Village” Community Baby Shower. During the entire month of January, the chapter raised over 4,000 diapers, 7,000 wipes and many other in-kind and monetary donations to support the event, including securing a $3,000 community grant from the Hartford
Greater Together Community Fund of the Hartford Foundation of Public Giving for the second consecutive year.
The community shower involved guest speakers, fun baby shower games, and wonderful gift baskets filled with numerous baby supplies and personal care items for thirty expecting teen mothers.
Some of the guest speakers included Theta Alpha Sigma Chapter soror and Social Action Committee Chair Dr. Iyanna Lies, MD, Whitley M., MSW, Doula, Tracy Caldwell, Doula, and other community partners. The speakers were impactful and offered meaningful resources to the expecting mothers, specifically touching on self-advocacy during the maternity journey.
This event also garnered the chapter a new partnership with Hartford Hospital and the Family Enrichment Center of the Hospital of Central Connecticut.
2024 marks the eighth year for the annual event, which the chapter hosts in accordance to the sorority's Project Cradle Care Initiative. Project CRADLE Care seeks to improve pregnancy outcomes in high-risk communities by increasing the number of women of childbearing age who receive adequate prenatal education and prenatal care and who better understand proper infant care and child development. This annual event takes place every third Saturday in January in conjunction with National Birth Defects Awareness Month. Each year, the local chapter's event is more and more impactful than the year before, according to Project Cradle Care Committee Chair Ashley Dyer.
"This project has really come along way," Dyer states. "When I first became chair, this was one program that I think we wanted to elevate year over year. To go from assisting seven moms to 22 moms, and now this year 30 expecting mothers is some thing that I am really proud of."
About Theta Alpha Sigma
The award winning Theta Alpha Sigma (TAS) Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was chartered June 25, 1995. When the three sorors bonded with two transfer sorors in the area, Connecticut's FIRST Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho was born. Theta Alpha Sigma has been home to many sorors and have played an instrumental role in the growth of Sigma Gamma Rho across the state of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.
Over the last 28 years, TAS has successfully implemented the mission, values, and principles of Sigma Gamma Rho through the execution of the sorority's national programs in the Greater Hartford area. The chapter has provided water safety lessons alongside Olympian Maritza McClendon for Swim 1922, a partnership with USA Swimming, has annually raised over $1,922 for St. Jude, has built relationship with several statewide agencies who partner with the chapter for its annual community baby shower for Project Cradle Care, and most recently, the chapter worked to provide over 1200 stuffed bookbags to support all three campuses of Jumoke Academy and four campuses of the Boys & Girls Club for Operation Big Book Bag. Since 2017, the chapter has distributed over $10K in scholarships through the Theta Alpha Sigma Education Assistance Scholarship.
Theta Alpha Sigma has been recognized locally by news outlets for its community efforts, in 2021 was awarded the Corrine J. Green Golden Anchor Award by the Northeastern Region of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. at the 79th Regional Conference and in 2023, was the recipient of the Community Award by Jumoke Academy. TAS still remains the chapter many Sorors across New England calls home.
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