On Friday, April 13, 2012 the smell of pancake batter, sound of loud music, and the chatter of hundreds of hungry college students flooded the Tridelta sorority house on College Ave; not a typical evening for the usual calm, quiet house.
The philanthropy event known as Flapjack Attack was in full swing. For the past four years, Tridelta goes out and buys over 100 pounds of pancake batter, 15 pounds of chocolate chips, and dozens of bottles of syrup to feed the many University of Maryland students that came ready to eat.
Tridelta has a wide variety of philanthropic events that chapters do internationally, however Flapjack Attack is not one of them, said Katie Sobash, the UMD chapter’s collegiate chapter officer.
The event is traditionally held to kick-off Greek Week and is usually supported by the various Greek organizations. Outside of the Greek community, members of the campus and the community, as well as the families, friends, and alumnus of the sisters support Flap Jack Attack.
Tridelta sisters cook and serve all-you-can-eat pancakes with choices ranging from chocolate chip, fruit toppings, or plain, all for a flat rate of five dollars.
“I think the women really enjoy and take pride in putting on this event from start to finish,” Sobash said.
Aside from the pancakes, music, and dancing, however, there is more to why the event is held.
Tridelta donates all of the proceeds made at Flapjack Attack and every philanthropy event, to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. St. Jude is a non-profit children’s research and treatment facility that treats children from all over the United States and from more than 70 different countries.
Since opening, the survival rate for leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, has gone up from 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today.
Nationally, it is Tridelta’s goal to raise 15 million dollars for the hospital within the next five years. A previous goal of the organization was to raise 10 million in 10 years, but Tridelta ended up raising the money in less than four, completing their goal in 2010.
The 15 million dollars hopefully to be raised in five years will be donated to the St. Jude Specialty Clinic, which will provide space for doctors to provide more expert care for specific needs. This will be Tridelta’s third goal set for St. Jude in the past 11 years.
(Photo by Dani Capon)
“We are so grateful for the partnership we have with Tridelta,” Brett Collins, a representative at St. Jude, said. “The kids at St. Jude are so blessed to have women that stand for love and service that find such purpose in supporting them.”
This semester, the sisters of Tridelta have raised over $4,000 dollars for St. Jude, according to Philanthropy Chairman Leah Sangster. This is a culmination of Flapjack Attack, Darlin’ Clothing Sales, and a Potbelly’s restaurant fundraiser – not including the events coming up in the fall.
“We’re going to keep working really hard to contribute to reaching our goal,” Melissa Fass, sophomore French major and a sister of Tridelta, said. “We know it’s not going to be easy, but we like a challenge.”