I too am crying. That's awesome.

That is such a beautiful story. I was quite impressed with the entire magazine and the other stories of sisterhood. Thank you for the link.

Oh wow, I cried, too. How sweet!

Thanks ladies. It meant a lot for me to share the story because so many people have jaded images of Greek Life (not that anyone who gets the ANCHORA would, but that's besides the point). And, obviously, the Greek message board I wrote about is Greek Chat...and user HannahGirl is Andrea from my story.

GC support
 

Can I just say OTW, how awesome you are! I mean that. I remember one time when I was really upset about something-and not even knowing me you said, "Worrying is like praying for something bad to happen." I never looked at it that way and I was really upset....Even though you are an Alpha Gam-I thought, wow...I'm glad to know there are other Greeks out there who are willing to help me out when I am upset. I really took what you said and realized how blessed I am to have met so many great people on here...Thank you....

I'm bumping this up because I've got a story.

This weekend, I broke up my boyfriend of almost a year. Even though I ended everything, I still felt miserable. Recruitment is approaching, and in the middle of practicing bumping, I burst into tears almost out of the blue. My sisters rallied around me...even those I didn't know that well. My big whisked me out to dinner, and when I got home, girls in my pledge class took me out to a party at one of my favorite fraternities. The next day, I was still feeling down, and about ten or so sisters came up to me when I arrived at work week and asked if I needed to talk; and that night, some sisters took me out for dinner. And over the weekend, sisters from all pledge classes; even those who I didn't know that well (theres 100+ in my chapter) texted me or facebooked me telling me that they are there if they needed to talk.

It was weird...I didn't think I would get support like this because it was just a breakup, and not a bad one at that. But the fact that my sisters are that supportive was amazing, and I know that no matter what happens, they are there for me.

Spring semester of last year was probably the hardest time I've faced in my life so far. Everything around me seemed to be falling apart and each day it was becoming more than I thought I could handle. One weekend in particular stands out. I had gotten locked out of my bedroom in my apartment on Friday night (thanks maintenance!) after all my roommates had gone home for the weekend, leaving me with only my car keys and my cell phone.

Saturday afternoon (after getting back in my room) I had gone to eat with a friend of mine, and on my way home I was rear ended by an F-250. I drive a Corolla, so it wasn't pretty. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt. As I was standing on the side of the road dealing with the police, I notice another car pull off and park in front of my car. One of the older sisters gets out and runs up and hugs me, checking to see if I was ok. At this point, I didn't know her very well so the fact that she did that meant a lot to me.

After I got home from dealing with the car accident, I decided to take a nap. I wake up to find that my kind-of boyfriend ( I don't even know what we were) had decided to let me know that we were done and that he never wanted to speak to me again on FACEBOOK. My feelings were very much involved with this guy, so obviously I was devasted, especially given what happened earlier in the afternoon. I texted my new member coordinator (she knew about a lot of my problems) and told her that I finally reached my breaking point. She immediately called me, and even though she was home for the weekend, she stayed on the phone with me for 45 minutes, calming me down and letting me know I'd be ok. She and a few other sisters would text me every so often to check up on me and making sure everything was alright. Without their help, I don't think I would have made it through that night.

Here is a great story from my alma mater!

Sorority rallies behind sister following cancer diagnosis

It's the little things....
 

An in-town radio station was running a contest for Lion King tickets. You could either win a costume contest or a trivia contest to get the tickets. I had never seen the show and had heard so many good things about it that I thought I would try to go a win them.

I went down to the venue, with no costume, because I figured that I could win the trivia contest (because, I confess, I love the movie). Anyway, when I got there, no one else was there, so I figured that I was a shoe-in. After I had waited about an hour, at the last possible moment, this woman arrived in costume. :mad: The DJ told me that in order to participate in the trivia contest, I would have to have a costume, otherwise the other lady would get the tickets.

So I quickly tried to find a makeshift costume, tying my scarf around my waist for a tail. A woman that I had been chatting with offered to do "cat" make up for me, because I did not have any make-up. As we walked toward her car and I saw her plates, I realized that she was a soror.

Long story, she made me up, and went about her way. I won the tickets, which were excellent seats, and I never had a chance to thank her for her help. She did this for no reason other than the kindness in her heart.

This is just one of the many examples of the sisterliness that I have seen again and again among my sorors, even in the smallest ways. The Alpha Kappa Alpha women that I have encountered have always been so sisterly to me, even when I was a complete stranger. This was one of the things that really drew me to this sisterhood in the end.

Oh yes, and a cyber shout out to that soror who took time from her day to lend me a helping hand. :D

BUMP - because as we approach recruitment season, we need to remember what it is we are offering pnms, and they need to know that what they are pursuing is so much more than wearing Greek letters and singing goofy songs.

relay for life sisterhood
 

Every year, my chapter participates in the Relay for Life at our school in New Jersey. This year's Relay had several meanings, each bringing us together even closer.

In November-December, my aunt who I am extremely close to was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We didnt know how serious it was but the idea of cancer scared the shit out of me. I couldn't concentrate on anything and until her results came in, I was a wreck. My roommate who was also my Pearl and one of my close friends was my rock cause she knew what I was going through. She had lost her dad to cancer a few years back. Luckily, we got the good news that it wasnt as bad as we originally thought and she would just have to go through chemo for 6 months.

About two months prior to relay, our chapter/faculty advisor was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to go through extensive chemo. She continued to teach and continued to be our advisor and we loved her for everything. She was always there for our chapter and still is, even though less than 2 weeks prior to Relay she got news that her cancer had worsened and she would have to step up her chemo. At Relay, we lit a candle for her that was place on the track.

During the luminaria lap, when the lights are turned off, my chapter stood arm in arm and walked around. I couldnt help myself and started to cry cause I kept thinking about my aunt and one of my sisters was by my side in a minute. This same sister started crying half way through the lap as well. She herself was a cancer survivor.

The minute we were coming up to our chapter advisors luminaria candle, we stopped as a chapter and continued to hold hands. Eventually we stopped in her honor and did a group hug. It was one of the moments that I knew that each of these 20 girls were there for me cause they held me up during that lap. Our advisor still needs our prayers and we hope her health will continue to get better.

Great Thread! Very touching and sweet.

I know this is stories of sisterhood, but I hope you ladies won't mind if I share a couple.

First I have a couple about other chapters on my campus, to show that greeks stick together regardless of letter.

During the NIU shootings, one of the people at my school lost his blood sister. His fraternity set up a table to help pay for the funeral arrangements. As if that wasn't enough, that table wasn't empty the entire time. People from every single org on campus took turns on that table to support our fellow greek.

Second our Alpha Sig chapter had the misfortune of loosing two undergrads in something like a month. They held a black light processional for him on the green of my campus. I couldn't go because of class, but I hear half of the Greeks at school were there in support.

Now a couple from my chapter. We have one brother who is pretty athletic but manages to hurt himself all the time somehow.He was playing basketball during greek week and hurt his ankle somehow. Me and a couple of other brothers ended up carrying him to our chapter house which was two blocks away.

Me and a few brothers were living together in a boarding house near campus. We had a fire one night which everybody ended up fine with. One of my brothers when he found out came running from the dorms with hoodies for all of us to wear (it was winter). Not only that, but I was getting calls from greeks asking what happened and all the houses were offering us a place to stay for a couple of days until we had everythign figured out.

And one that is very personal to me. Me and my grandfather were really close, he was the closest thing I had to a father. Last year he passed away in the night. We had just finished pinning our new pledges and were at a dinner celebrating when I got the call. The Brothers were so supportive it was great. I ended up going outside to sit on the steps. They took turns coming out and sitting with me, talking when needed , silent when not. I honestly don't know how I would have made it through the night without them. Also background, I live about 45 minutes from my school, but that's by train. Now I need to take two trains to get home, one that ones all night and one that stops at 1 to get to the first train. So I had planned on sleeping on the couch anyway after the ritual and diner. My mom called again and asked when I could get home so she could scheduled a flight. I told her when I got back to school from the diner I would see if i could get a ride to the train I needed. As soon as I said that one of the brothers volunteered to drive me. He ended up driving me all the way home after borrowing another brother's car.

And for two slightly more happy stories.

Me, one of my brothers and one of the pledges were on the train on our way to NYC to visit our columbia chapter. They had invited us for a formal invite dinner so we decided to go. I was wearing a jacket with letters on it. Some random guy comes up and asked if we are brothers of Psi Upsilon. I answered yes. Turned out he was one of the founders of my chapter. That was crazy.

Now I love visiting chapters and meeting brothers. One of my friends was driving down to RPI to go to a cookout. I managed to talk myself into the car and went down with her to visit the chapter. I had called the day before, but they apprently forgot. Anyway I show up more or less out of the blue and they welcomed me with open arms. Somehow I had showed up right in time for them to go out for lunch and they invited me along. The entire time I was there, they didn't let me pay for a thing.

Mind you these stories all took place in a period of about two years.

Greatest thread ever.
I have tears in my eyes and goosebumps right now - thank you all for your beautiful stories.