FlashBlack: Palm Beach’s AKA Chapter
BY ELISA CRAMER
To provide scholarships to high school seniors, they cooked and sold dinners each Saturday. They started community programs, from tutoring elementary school students to volunteering at nursing homes to helping to break down barriers erected by segregation.
That legacy of service to the community has endured for 55 years for the members of Zeta Tau Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Chartered in Palm Beach County on December 10, 1955, this graduate chapter of the oldest Greek letter organization for black women is as strong today as ever. Through the efforts of the Ivy Educational Foundation, a 501(c) (3) organization that supports the fundraising efforts of the Zeta Tau Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Chapter annually awards scholarships to graduating high school seniors. Last year, the Chapter awarded $20,000 in scholarships.
The Chapter also:
· provides a community outreach program for middle and high school students, along with workshops for parents;
· sponsors two youth groups - one for middle school girls and one for young ladies in high school; and
· gives support to cancer research, the American Lung Association, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross and several other community organizations.
To make these contributions, including the $20,000 in scholarships last year, the Sorority hosts such fundraisers as: the Emerald Elegance dance, The Mother/Daughter Luncheon, and the Fashionetta youth pageant, luncheon and fashion show, featuring the Hamilton Vogue Esquire models of Chicago. This year’s Mother/Daughter Luncheon will be held at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens on May 1, 2010, at 11:30 a.m.
Under the leadership of Chapter President Maxine Perry DuPont, the Chapter aims this year to focus on the economic growth of the Black family, health issues facing elementary school students and their parents, and financial literacy. The Chapter also supports such annual grassroots programs as the Thelma R. Jones Prayer Breakfast, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade and the provision of Thanksgiving Food Baskets.
The 15 charter members who launched the Zeta Tau Omega Chapter 55 years ago had a vision of sisterhood and service – a vision that thrives in Palm Beach County today. Zeta Tau Omega Chapter is one of three graduate chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., in the county. There also is a chapter in Belle Glade and in Delray Beach.
To find out more about the Mother/Daughter Luncheon, how your daughter can become a part of the Twenty Pearls or Precious Pearls youth groups, or other information about Zeta Tau Omega’s activities, please contact Maxine DuPont at (561) 655-3978.
Following are the chapter’s 15 founding members:
Charter Members in 1955
Geneva Boynton
Myrtis Edgecombe Burke
Vernice Williams Butler
Clayton Lowe Coleman*
Naomi Daniels Cole
Lillian Hearst
Bernadine E. Lazier
Doris Matthews*
E. Bernadine Cousins Murray
Louise Murray
Ardis Orr*
Juanita Orr
Marian Orr*
Delores Robinson Powdrill
Novik Mitchell Stubbs*
Evangeline Wilburn*
*Deceased
Tags: Black History
