Expected attendance was nearly double the original projection of Kappa Alpha Theta’s Taco Tuesday philanthropy event and the sorority raised about eight thousand dollars Tuesday night, according to Jacy Barnes, a junior in communications and the KAT sister in charge of philanthropy events.
At the official house of KAT, sisters served tacos and beverages to those who purchased wristbands. All the proceeds from the night went to Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, Guardian Adlitem or the Theta Foundation.
“I was definitely thrilled with the way this event turned out,” said Anna Cole, a senior studying parks, recreation and tourism management and KAT’s president.
KAT also hosted two other philanthropy events that were held at local Raleigh restaurants Moe’s Southwest Grill and El Cerro. The event at Moe’s was held on Nov. 4 and the event at El Cerro was held on Nov. 11.
15 percent of proceeds from Moe’s and 10 percent of proceeds from El Cerro went to the organizations KAT is donating to.
“Our original projection for all the fundraisers was eight thousand dollars,” Barnes said. “Tonight alone we made that much money.”
Neither Moe’s nor El Cerro has released an exact profit to KAT as of now.
All the sisters were surprised at the outcome. They even had to send sisters out to get more food.
“We definitely exceeded our expectations for tonight’s event,” Cole said. “Since this is our first philanthropy event of the year this is a great symbol of how the year will hopefully go.”
Nicole Malanaphy, a sophomore studying communications and a sister of KAT, said that she also thought the event went really well since they sold so many tickets at the door.
Court Appointed Special Advocates is KAT’s national philanthropy organization. Guardian Adlitem is KAT’s state philanthropy organization. Specifically, the organization that KAT is donating proceeds to in Guardian Adlitem is The Friends of Wake.
80 percent of last night’s proceeds went to The Friends of Wake, an organization dedicated to taking care of children in the court system without available parents or family members to care for them. Ten percent went to Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children and the last 10 percent went to the Theta Foundation.
CASA for Children is a network of community-based programs that recruit, train and support citizen-volunteers to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in courtrooms and communities.
The Theta Foundation is KAT’s philanthropy organization that promotes and supports scholarships, education leadership consulting and Sisters Supporting Sisters. These are all programs for KAT sisters. SSS is a hotline for KAT sisters to call other trained sisters for advice or help on anything in their lives.
“I was happy about the support from the Raleigh community and especially the student body,” Megan Harman, a sophomore studying neuro biology and a sister of KAT.
“We were very pleased with the turnout and we are definitely excited for more events,” Barnes said.
Cole commented on how all the sisters in charge of last night’s event were all very efficient and how Barnes had everything under control, even considering twice the amount of people showed up that they were expecting for.
Barnes will not be in charge of KAT’s spring philanthropy event, but she did say that the event will be called Stars and Kites and KAT will be serving BBQ instead of tacos.
