On February 23, 2019, the Beta Upsilon chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi hosted their 6th annual Spaghetti for Scleroderma event. I was honored to be a part of this event as I am a member of AOII here on Bryant’s campus.
This event is particularly special to our chapter- one of our founding members, Vic Frazier, was directly impacted by this disease. Her mother suffered from Scleroderma and unfortunately passed away from the incurable illness.
Scleroderma is a rare, incurable disease defined as a “chronic connective tissue disease,” literally meaning hardening of the skin (www.scleroderma.org).
Since the passing of her mother, Vic and her sorority sisters started the Spaghetti for Scleroderma event in honor of her mother and others affected by the disease. Spaghetti for Scleroderma has continued to be an annual philanthropic success for AOII, as it has touched the hearts of many other members and individuals who are impacted by the disease- whether they know someone suffering from the disease or are fighting the illness themselves.
Weeks leading up the event, Anna Rossi (Vice President of Philanthropy of AOII) pushed her sorority sisters to help spread awareness and encouraged others to contribute to the cause through social media posts and a donation page created for the event. With a set goal of $5,000, fundraising and selling tickets was a main focus. Ultimately, the goal was surpassed during the actual event- all donations and sales made went directly to the Scleroderma Foundation.
The event took place in the Bello Grand Hall. The room was filled with AOII members with their friends and families, along with many students from other Greek Life chapters, all coming together to support this special event. Raffle tickets were sold and prizes were given out to those winners at the end of the dinner.
At the event, there were two guest speakers- Vic Frazier being one of them and one other person who suffers from Scleroderma. The two spoke about their experiences with Scleroderma and how it has impacted them and their loved ones. At the end of the night, Anna Rossi and Steph Souza (President of AOII) gave their final thanks to everyone who attended the event and who donated to the Scleroderma Foundation.