Sacramento State’s Delta Gamma chapter, Delta Eta, will host its annual Anchor Splash competitive swim meet on Oct. 9 for campus sororities, fraternities and organizations to raise money and awareness about visual impairments.
The competitions are divided into two parts: Most Beautiful Eyes and a finale.
In “Most Beautiful Eyes,” a picture of a pair of eyes of a participant is attached to a bucket at their team’s booth. The goal is to get attendees to donate money into their eyes-clad bucket and the one with the most money wins these first rounds.
The finale is called a Deck Show and this round involves two contests: swimming and dancing. All teams will participate in the swim meet and winners will enter a final dance battle.
“It feels amazing because our sisters come together and work with the organizations participating in Anchor Splash in order to raise money and awareness for our local society of the blind and Service for Sight which (also) benefits the visually impaired,” said Allie Britt, president of the campus Delta Eta chapter. “This is something that all other Delta Gamma chapters do and it really brings our national organization together.”
Vision impairment became the heart of the sorority when Ruth Billow, a sorority sister from the University of Akron who lost her eyesight during childhood, pleaded to the organization to adopt the “Aid to the Blind” philanthropy in 1936, according to the sorority.
Since 1966, different chapters from around the country began putting on their own Anchor Splash events for Service for Sight.
These events go beyond just fundraising, according to the sorority, as the foundation has also given approximately $2.8 million in grants to organizations and schools who provide awareness for visual impairment on their respective campuses.
Ashley Mauldin, senior gerontology major and coordinator of this year’s Anchor Splash, said she loves the opportunity to put this event on and helps continue sorority’s mission.
“I love being able to see what our service and funds are going to,” Mauldin said. “I love how excited the people get when they receive support from the Delta Gamma Foundation.”
Gianna Cardinale, junior political science major, joined the sorority in fall of 2015 and said that she enjoyed her first viewing of Anchor Splash last year.
“I knew we had raised over $7,000 and I knew that it was for such an amazing cause,” Cardinale said. “When the Deck Show started and each of the organizations would go up and do their dance and swim, you could see how much time and energy they put into it.”
Sac State’s Delta Eta chapter of Delta Gamma will enter its 50th year since the organization’s inception in 1966. An formal anniversary dinner celebration will happen on Saturday, Oct. 22, where current members and alumnae can mingle and learn more about one another’s personal experience.
In addition to Service for Sights, proceeds will also go toward the organization’s Individual Grants to Members and Grants to the Fraternity for Educational & Leadership Programming.