Today, we celebrate 8 years of the Empowered Arab Sisterhood/Epsilon Alpha Sigma sorority! Take a trip down memory lane with us and look back on what we were able to achieve over the past years. And with each new year moving forward, we will add one new accomplishment.
1. Friends of Kayany Partenership. In 2015, we created a 5-year partenership with Friends of Kayany, where the majority of proceeds for Remebering the Refugees has gone to. Friends of Kayany is a United States based non-profit that supports their sister organization Kayany Foundation. Based in Lebanon, the Kayany Foundation hosting schools and providing education for the displaced children living in the informal tented settlements of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Our proceeds have provided classrooms, a library, a computer lab, and various other resources to enhance the education provided. As we are at our 5-year mark, we are hoping to continue our work with Friends of Kayany moving forward.
2. Women's Empowerment Week. Since their first year, our Beta Chapter at UC Davis has hosted a “Women’s Empowerment Week.” This week has included numerous events addressing what it means to be an Arab-American woman. It includes a week long series of events including: a self-defense class, various exploitative talks with leads on campus, and inspiring students to write what they feel empworment means. What an empowered group of sisters we have at UC Davis. In the future, we hope to expand WEW to all chapters across the nation.
3. Remembering the Refugees surpassed 100K. To date, Remembering the Refugees has raised over $140K to support medical aid, transportation, and education for refugees. Although the bulk of our proceeds have benefited Friends of Kayany, we have raised funds for other non-profits supporting the refugee crisis.
4. Granting First Academic Scholarships! In 2018, we were excited to award our first academic scholarships to the highest performers of the Kayany Schools. We are so proud of these empowered little ladies for excelling academically in the face of adversity. We are incredibally grateful and warmed by the fact that Epsilon Alpha Sigma has the capability to raise funds all the way from the United States for Kayany students. The work we have done and continue to do for the refugee crisis is the driving force for everything we do here. We look forward to granting more scholarships in the future.
5. The Empowered Girl Scholarship. Speaking of scholarships, in 2020, we launched a yearly $250 scholarship for Arab girls graduating high school or community college and who will be continuing their education at a 4-year university. Award recepients are chosen based off of the values held by the Empowered Arab Sisterhood, including, but not limited to: diversity, class, and intelligence, and the applicant's passion for philanthropic engagement through volunteer work and spreading awareness of humanitarian issues, for example. We look forward to finding out who our winner is of the first scholarship in July!
6. Chartering our Zetas! On March 23rd, 2019 our Zeta chapter was officially chartered at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The Zetas have made quite the impact in the Michigan community in their inaugural year and have already left an imprint in our ever-growing organization! In April 2020, they gained full membership in the Multicultural Greek Council at UofM. The successes of our UofM doves is incredibly vital as they have planted the roots and set the stage for further expansion in the Mid West and East Coast.
7. The Epsilon Alpha Sigma sponsored Library in the Bekaa Valley. Pictured are Elena Salman of our Alpha Chapter and Silan Fadlallah of our Zeta Chapter who recently conducted a site visit of the Kayany schools in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon and visited one of the libraries that Epsilon Alpha Sigma helped fund. Moments like these are moments we cherish because we are able to see the impact we have made in the Kayany schools. We hope that when our sisters visit the schools, they return back home to the U.S. even more excited and motivated.
8. National Board Retreat. For the first time in Epsilon Alpha Sigma history, our National Board members from all over the country joined together in September 2019. They've gotten to know and build relationships with each other virtually, but this in-person 2-day retreat strengthened the bonds they shared previously through the screen. They used their time to brainstorm ways to improve the organization and implement stronger expansion plans. With it being hosted in Las Vegas, they were able to meet a few members of the UNLV chapter and hear their input.
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