Brooke Hurley (brhurley2@ursinus.edu)
Morgan Mason (momason@ursinus.edu)
Amidst the bitter cold November weather, Ursinus’s very own local sorority, Phi Alpha Psi, held their annual philanthropy event, Pie a Phi Psi, on November 17th. During the event, the members of Phi Alpha Psi gathered together outside Olin Plaza. Friends, classmates, and faculty paid two dollars to “pie” a sister of their choice with a plate full of shaving cream. All proceeds went towards a non-profit organization called Open Door Project.
Open Door Project is located in the heart of rural Pine Grove, PA, and was created to give children an extra support system. The program’s mission is to foster the importance of education while being a prime example of how building our neighbors up is fundamental to our self-worth. Another one of their main goals is to support kids who may not have a support system to express their own goals. “We want to provide the children with a place to mention anything and help them find ways to manage those issues,” Open Door Project stated on their website.
It was developed to bring a strong presence of people who genuinely care about the people in their community and want to make a change. Over the last four years, the project has opened its doors to nearly 200 children from kindergarten to eighth grade. The program runs on the motto, “You are smart. You are kind. You are important.”
Volunteers at the Open Door Project create programs for little minds to grasp onto their big emotions to begin to value themselves with much higher worth. The sisters of Phi Alpha Psi felt very connected to them, as they tried to instill similar mottos into their sisters during their education process. New Member Educator of Phi Alpha Psi and Intern at Open Door Project Mariah Lesh ‘22 stated, “I see a lot of parallels between the values they teach the kids at Open Door and the values we instill in our New Member Educatees. We are reminded that we are powerful individuals from day one, but we learn along the way that we are stronger together. We taught the kids about global citizenship, loving one another, and leaning on your neighbors in times of need. I feel like that idea can transcend far beyond elementary school minds, which is why it’s so important for us as young adults to remember this too.”
The sisters of Phi Alpha Psi look forward to this coming spring semester, when they can hold another pie event. If you want to help or find more information on the Open Door Project, visit: opendoorproject.org.