Delta Gamma is a sisterhood based on the desire to help each other improve, grow in character and become the most socially responsible women they can be. The Delta Gamma Foundation has three main focuses: Service for Sight, grants to the fraternity for educational and leadership purposes, and grants to individual members. The ladies of Delta Gamma across the nation are on a mission to protect something that is too often taken for granted: the gift of sight. Not only do they provide hands-on assistance to those with vision impairments, they have also founded 4 schools to help children who are visually impaired learn the special skills they will need throughout their lives. Service for Sight also includes Joining Forces and The Golden Anchor Program. Joining Forces aims to aid the United States Armed Forces members through eye injury clinical care and vision research, while the Golden Anchor Program is based on bringing companionship to local senior citizens. DG members are not just involved with their own foundation, they are partnered with 150 other sight and vision-related organizations nationally. Their philanthropy has been a part of Delta Gamma since 1936, so it’s safe to say that “do good” is more than just a motto, it’s a way of life.
Locally, the University of Utah chapter of DG raises money during their philanthropy week through events like Casino Night, where Greek Row can dress up and play casino card games for prizes, Pies for Eyes, where anyone who donates $3 can eat pie and socialize at the chapter house, and Anchor Slam, DG’s very own March Madness where the winner of the men’s teams gets points for the ultimate prize- becoming DG Anchorman. *Crowd goes wild* Other successful DG fundraisers include Anchor Splash and Slices for Sight.
15 Fun Facts About Eyes:
1. The average blink lasts for about 1/10th of a second.
2. While it takes some time for most parts of your body to warm up to their full potential, your eyes are on their “A game” 24/7.
3. Eyes heal quickly. With proper care, it only takes about 48 hours for the eye to repair a corneal scratch.
4. Seeing is such a big part of everyday life that it requires about half of the brain to get involved.
5. Newborns don’t produce tears. They make crying sounds, but the tears don’t start flowing until they are about 4-13 weeks old.
6. Around the world, about 39 million people are blind and roughly 6 times that many have some kind of vision impairment.
7. Doctors have yet to find a way to transplant an eyeball. The optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain is too sensitive to reconstruct successfully.
8. The cells in your eye come in different shapes. Rod-shaped cells allow you to see shapes, and cone-shaped cells allow you to see color.
9. You blink about 12 times every minute.
10. Your eyes are about 1 inch across and weigh about 0.25 ounce.
11. Some people are born with two differently colored eyes. This condition is heterochromia.
12. Even if no one in the past few generations of your family had blue or green eyes, these recessive traits can still appear in later generations.
13. Each of your eyes has a small blind spot in the back of the retina where the optic nerve attaches. You don’t notice the hole in your vision because your eyes work together to fill in each other’s blind spot.
14. Out of all the muscles in your body, the muscles that control your eyes are the most active.
15. 80% of vision problems worldwide are avoidable or even curable.
-vsp.com
To watch the DG philanthropy video click here!
Want to read more about what these women do or even to make a donation? Click here!