By Abby Rathburn | Staff Writer
As if the Texas heat wasn’t hot enough, Baylor Tri Delta turned up the heat — and the griddles — a notch further.
Baylor’s Tri Delta chapter hosted its fall philanthropy event, Delta House of Pancakes, Thursday evening on Fountain Mall. The event featured live music and unlimited pancakes with the purchase of a $7 meal ticket, with proceeds benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Rockwall senior and Baylor Tri Delta Collegiate Chapter President Chaney Moore said this year brought one major change: The pancakes were made on-site.
“We used to make the pancakes in East Village and have to run them across campus, and now we get to actually make them on Fountain Mall,” Moore said. “We get to sit there and chat with you while we’re making the pancakes, which has made the experience more fun and the pancakes taste better.”
All of the proceeds from the tickets will go directly to Tri Delta’s philanthropy partner, St. Jude. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was founded in 1962 to treat childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Tri Delta adopted St. Jude as its national philanthropic partner in 1999.
Baylor’s chapter has raised $2.5 million for St. Jude, placing it among Tri Delta’s top chapters in fundraising efforts.
“It’s hard sometimes because, to a certain extent, St. Jude is only based in Memphis, Tennessee, so it’s kind of a little further out of reach for us, but it’s so special because we are able to see direct impacts of where our dollars are going,” Moore said.
This summer, Moore and other Tri Delta members traveled to St. Jude in Memphis, where they saw firsthand how fundraising efforts support children receiving treatment.
“We are flipping pancakes for the little girls and guys sitting in the hospital in Memphis right now,” Moore said. “This is actively something we can be doing for them, and there is a direct correlation, even if it doesn’t feel that way at times.”
For attendees, the event offered a chance to support St. Jude while eating freshly made pancakes.
Plano freshman Alli Pasant attended after hearing about the event from a friend. Pasant said she thinks St. Jude has an inspiring mission and “is a really meaningful thing to donate to.”
Although Director of Philanthropy Avery Cvitanich and Delta House of Pancakes Chair Susan Moore largely planned the event, every member of Tri Delta assisted.
“Whether they’re the ones serving pancakes or mixing the batter or restocking the ingredients, all our girls have a shift,” Moore said.
To promote their event, Tri Delta members tabled at the business school, Fountain Mall and other locations around campus. The chapter also partnered with local Waco businesses for profit shares and promoted the event on social media.
Austin freshman MaryKate Hale decided to attend after seeing posts about the event online. She said the atmosphere she found at Fountain Mall matched what she saw on social media.
“Everyone is so nice — very smiley, very inviting, very welcoming,” Hale said.
Held in the fall, the event attracted many freshmen looking to rush in the spring. For these potential new members, the event served as a glimpse into the chapter’s values and the importance they place on their partnership with St. Jude.
“We have been educating ourselves and diving deeper into personal St. Jude patient stories,” Moore said. “Not every woman in our chapter has a direct connection to St. Jude, but we very much have developed our own ‘why’ throughout our time in Tri Delta.”
