Lack of school sup­plies can be a prob­lem for many schools, but a local ele­men­tary school in Big Rapids is get­ting some help.

Brookside Elementary School received much needed school sup­plies from the mem­bers of Delta Zeta Sorority.
The mem­bers of Delta Zeta donated the mate­ri­als when one of their mem­bers heard the school was strug­gling to acquire the sup­plies they needed.

Delta Zeta planned to do this back in August. Each mem­ber donated at least $5 out of pocket for the cost of the mate­ri­als. They then went to the store and bought the mate­ri­als themselves.

Brookside Elementary received the sup­plies on Sept.13.

“We know how much of a hard time the school sys­tem has been hav­ing lately,” said mem­ber of the aca­d­e­mic chair Kaitlin McMurray. “We wanted to get involved.”

Lauren Carlson, a mem­ber on the phil­an­thropy chair, said each mem­ber bought sup­plies they thought the school might need such as glue, con­struc­tion paper, and writ­ing utensils.

Carlson went on to say that Delta Zeta plans to get more involved with the school by vol­un­teer­ing there dur­ing recess hours as recess bud­dies and to “hang out with the kids.”

Both mem­bers of Delta Zeta stressed they wanted the Ferris com­mu­nity to know they are more than a soror­ity; they are a part of the community.

“There is a big mis­con­cep­tion on the Ferris cam­pus — peo­ple see these orga­ni­za­tions [soror­i­ties] as for par­ty­ing and that’s just not the case,” said McMurray, a senior in dig­i­tal media pro­duc­tion. “Greek life is prob­a­bly one of the best oppor­tu­ni­ties you’ll have to give back to the com­mu­nity,” said McMurray.

The Delta Zeta Sorority is involved in many vol­un­teer projects; among these is the Painted Turtle Camp in California.

The camp is for chil­dren and teens, ages seven to 16, with seri­ous ill­nesses, and it gives them a chance to have fun while receiv­ing the nec­es­sary med­ical care.

Delta Zeta said they are plan­ning for other vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties in October.