The Lowcountry Alumnae Club of Pi Beta Phi distributed 765 new books at four events to promote literacy in the Lowcountry for its Fraternity Day of Service.
During the month of March, the group organized events to celebrate the 150th birthday of Pi Beta Phi and the birthday of Dr. Seuss.
They read the Dr. Seuss book “Happy Birthday to You”; celebrated with cupcakes, colored goldfish crackers and juice; donated books to their classroom libraries; and gave all the students their own book to take home to read with their families.
The Pi Beta Phi Foundation was able to secure a book for every student at St. Helena Elementary School for this special year. Additional events were held YMCA, and the after-school programs, Thumbs Up Beaufort and Thumbs Up Port Royal.
They again presented the CAR – Champions Are Readers – program with the pre-kindergarten classes at the YMCA.
Pi Beta Phi has been dedicated to making an impact on literacy for over 100 years and the Lowcountry Alumnae Club has been involved with these programs since they were organized in 2006.
They believe that access to new, age appropriate books will help change these children’s lives.
Pi Beta Phi is helping put books into the hands of children in partnership with First Book, a nonprofit providing new books to its national network of schools and programs. Over the past several years, Pi Beta Phi has donated $1 million to literacy causes and given one million books to children in need.
The goal is to impact one million lives through its philanthropy Read > Lead > Achieve by the time Pi Beta Phi celebrates its 150th anniversary this summer.
Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women was founded in 1867 at Monmouth College in Illinois. Pi Beta Phi has installed 204 collegiate chapters including active chapters at Clemson and the University of South Carolina and nearly 300 alumnae clubs worldwide.
Visit www.pibetaphi.org.