Alpha Gamma Delta recently held their 29th annual spring Picnic Basket philanthropy event.

Each year the ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta make different themed picnic baskets and put them in an open auction event. All proceeds from the event go to the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation, which is partnered with the charity organizations, “Feeding America” and “Meals on Wheels” that support fighting hunger.

“Picnic Basket is our largest fund-raising event of the year. The whole community and campus is invited,” Alpha Gamma Delta Vice-President of Philanthropy, Davi Woods said.

The Picnic Basket auction usually has 20-25 baskets ranging in sizes from large to small. The Alpha Gamma Delta ladies are put into groups, and each group makes a basket with a theme. Each Greek organization on campus gets a basket themed after them.

Each basket goes for at least $100, and the Greek baskets are the most expensive ones. “Our big thing is giving back,” Alpha Gamma Delta Yell Director, Hannah Ekwall said. She and her group were responsible for making the Alpha Gamma Delta themed basket. Ekwall said that some Greek organizations, especially the fraternities on campus, will bid around $800 for one basket.

Last spring, Alpha Gamma Delta raised around $11,000 from Picnic Basket.

“As the years go on, we will raise more money,” Ekwall said.

Since Picnic Basket has proven to be successful for so many years, Alpha Gamma Delta plans on keeping it as their spring philanthropy event.

“We would also like to incorporate smaller philanthropies to enhance the impact,” Ekwall said.

Alpha Gamma Delta plans on doing more community events and outreach this semester. “I want the ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta to impact not only the Tarleton campus, but the whole Stephenville community and eventually Erath County,” Woods said. Alpha Gamma Delta also plans on doing more advertising and spreading the word so that the campus and community knows what’s going on, who Alpha Gamma Delta is, and what they do.

“Food insecurity impacts more people than you think, and I hope one day Alpha Gamma Delta can make sure that no one is alone in the battle with food insecurity,” Woods said.

The Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation donates to hundreds of thousands of hunger-relief organizations every year.

“Picnic Basket to me is an opportunity to give back to the community while also supporting the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation,” Alpha Gamma Delta’s Director of Social Media, Joy Brewer said. She and her group were responsible for making the boutique themed basket. “The Picnic Basket event for the Epsilon Upsilon chapter, Tarleton’s chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta, is just how we do our part in fighting world hunger,” Brewer said.

Alpha Gamma Delta’s Picnic Basket auction was held on Tuesday, Feb. 4 in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center ballrooms. The event had over 450 people attend and raised over $9,700 in total for the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation.