AKA to celebrate Founder’s Day in Troy
Published 4:38 pm Thursday, January 3, 2013
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Founder’s Day Celebration will be held Jan. 13 at the Trojan Center Ballrooms with Stephanie Barnes Taylor, attorney and founder of The Fruition Group as the featured speaker.
The Fruition Group specializes in leadership and strategic planning solutions.
Eva Matthews, reporter with the “Ivy Leaf,” the AKA’s official publication, said the public is invited to attend the Founder’s Day Celebration and help celebrate the Sorority’s 115 years of community service and learn more about the Sorority’s commitment to community.
The Founder’s Day Concert is hosted by Kappa Pi Omega and the Mu Alpha chapters.
Mu Alpha is the Troy University Chapter of AKA and recently inducted 53 new members, Matthews said.
“The local chapter of AKA has dedicated itself to improving the quality of life for children and families worldwide through volunteerism and community service program initiatives,” Matthews said. “In the Troy area, we have our Emerging New Leaders program where our senior members mentor the younger members and encourage them to excel academically and to be involved in the community.”
Matthews said Mu Alpha Chapter participates in local coat, canned food and school supply drives.
“They also participate in the RIF (Reading is Fundamental) program as readers,” Matthews said.
“AKA stresses community service and we are always looking for ways to help our communities.”
Mathews said AKA focuses its programs on global poverty, youth mentorship for enhanced academic preparation and character building, heath education and disease prevention, environmental stewardship and sustainability, economic security, cultural arts, social justice and human rights.
“In 1999, Kappa Pi Omega purchased the building at 305 North Foster Street in Dothan for use as the Dr. George Washington Carver Museum, which is operated by the Carver Museum Foundation,” said.
“The museum is an independent, non-profit organization that pays tribute to Dr. Carver and also features the work of local artists.”
AKA is an international service organization that was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1908. It is the oldest Greek-lettered organization established by African-American college educated women. The AKAs have more than 260,000 members in graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, the Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, Canada, Japan, Germany, Korea and Africa.