By Courtney McEunn
Student Life Editor
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 13 and 14, the Cameron University sorority Gamma Delta Pi held a bake sale in the lobby of the McMahon Centennial Complex (MCC).
The women of the sorority sold a variety of home-baked goods, including cookies, cake pops, rice crispy treats and other different kinds of snacks. Everything was sold for under $5.
Gamma Delta Pi is a Native American sorority that strives to not only preserve and take pride in their heritage here on campus, but they also support and attend other Native American events in the community.
Bianca Karnes is the President of the Epsilon chapter of Gamma Delta Pi at CU. One of her top priorities for the sorority is to be more involved in the community and support each other.
“That is our main focal point,” Karnes said, “just uplifting indigenous women and their education. We work really closely with our local MMIW chapter, helping going on searches for missing indigenous women.”
The sorority hosted the bake sale to raise money for their chapter, to ensure that they can afford supplies and other things that their members would need.
“We’re raising money so, when girls get initiated, we buy them shawls and things like that and their jackets. And then for other bonding activities, like if we wanted to go out to a zoo or something, the girls wouldn’t have to worry about paying for it; the chapter could pay for it.”
The shawls are used at different cultural events that the sorority members attend. Gamma Delta Pi member Brittney Harris Carattini has gone to different cultural events around the community, including Powwows, with her sorority to provide support and to represent their organization.
Carattini also stated that the money they raise doesn’t only go toward their chapter, but is also donated to the MMIW.
“We’re having a bake sale to raise money for our sorority,” Carattini said, “and for our shawls that we use at cultural events. We also give a percentage of our profit to MMIW, which is ‘Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.’”
The MMIW is an organization that strives to locate and bring missing indigenous women back home to their families. They also provide support and aid to families of murdered women. On top of providing their support, the MMIW also educates women in self-defense.
For more information about the Gamma Delta Pi sorority, email cugammadeltapi@hotmail.com.
