By Madalyn Watson | Staff Writer
The women of Clasped Hands in Service (CHIS) raised money for their future service and sisterhood events by selling baked goods from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 21.
CHIS is a service-based sorority dedicated to helping the Baylor and Waco communities, as well as developing friendships and connections through the act of service, according to their Facebook page.
Dallas junior Tiana Andrews, the treasurer of CHIS, facilitated all of the planning and organization that went into the bake sale.
“We had a signup sheet, so I tried to get everyone to participate but you know kind of hard week back from spring break,” Andrews said.
Members of CHIS volunteered to bake different treats for the sale such as chocolate chip cookies, brownies and zucchini bread, as well as participate in the sale and spread the word about their service sorority.
“[CHIS] is actually the first women’s organization at Baylor, it started in 1955, so it definitely has some super rich history,” Andrews said.
Cape Girardeau, Mo. sophomore Michaela Scott said CHIS began as the female counterpart to chamber, when chamber was limited to male members only.
“This group of women wanted to make a service organization that women could join at Baylor, and they wanted to create a way for women to serve both the Baylor community and the Waco community,” Scott said.
Scott was inspired to learn more about CHIS after she saw a slide advertising their interest meeting in chapel her freshman year.
“It was really cool for me because it’s a sorority so like I got to like [experience] the things that my roommates had gone through with their sorority, but it was a lot smaller group,” Scott said.
Both Andrews and Scott said they either met some of their closest friends through CHIS, or they encouraged their friends to join the sorority with or after them.
“The girls in CHIS are some of the sweetest people that I’ve ever met. They’re super supportive,” Andrews said. “We have people from all different majors, so I’d say we’re a pretty diverse organization.”
CHIS have similar traditions to other sororities on campus, but rather than having one philanthropy for their chapter, they work with several different charities throughout the year.
“We still do the Bigs and Littles like any sorority does, that’s super awesome, and we have our little families, so that definitely emphasizes sisterhood,” Andrews said.
Scott said that she was involved in several service organizations during high school and felt compelled to continue serving her community while at Baylor.
“I did a lot through my youth group, and I built a community through service that way. And so then it was cool see something that was like built on service and community in college, too,” Scott said.
Members of CHIS have opportunities to serve every weekend, through a range of different organizations like Caritas of Waco and the Austin Boxer Rescue.
“I think it’s really unique that we do a different service every weekend. To do something that I look forward to every week, it’s super and I really enjoy it,” Andrews said.
Scott that her favorite service organization that CHIS has worked with since she became a member is the Shepherd’s Heart mobile food pantry.
The Shepherd’s Heart food pantries provide for families going through hard times and can help save a family as much as $60 to $80 when they grocery shop as well as visit the pantries, according to their website.
While working with Shepherd’s Heart, Scott practices her Spanish skills when serving, distributing food and talking with the people using the mobile food pantry.
“Waco has a really big Hispanic population. And so it’s really cool to be able to talk to people who wouldn’t be able to talk to the people in the line otherwise,” Scott said.
Scott said that applying what she was learning to her service, strengthened the experience not only for her, but for the people who would have otherwise not been able to talk to the volunteers at the pantry.
To learn more about their Baylor service sorority, follow them on their Instagram @baylorchis.
