Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Connecticut Chapter Makes Huge Impact 

Tackling Childhood Hunger in New Haven

New Haven, CT –As the school year winds down, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® (AKA) Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter (TEO) is winning praise for excelling in a program that has supplied hundreds of New Haven children and their families with nutritious food. TEO members donated, packed, and distributed a whopping 11,208 Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack (AKA CHIPPTM) bagsto the Lincoln Bassett Community School during this school year. Over three years, the AKA chapter distributed an unprecedented total of 22,861 bags.

Lincoln Bassett Principal Rosalind Garcia stated, “Your commitment to our school community has made a profound impact on our students and their families. We are especially grateful for the tireless efforts of Ms. Tanasia Edwards [the program lead] and her dedicated team. Their hard work during school events to register families and their commitment to ensuring every participant received nourishment on schedule were essential to the program’s success.”

AKA CHIPP is a program initiative of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s International President & CEO Danette Anthony Reed. AKA chapters locally and around the globe provide weekend and holiday meals for children when they do not have the benefit of free school meals. 

Theta Epsilon Omega is in the sorority’s North Atlantic Region, led by Regional Director Elicia Pegues Spearman, Esq. of Cheshire. Spearman commended TEO for its remarkable impact on its community. 

“Cereal, breakfast bars, applesauce, juice, graham crackers, goldfish and other non-perishable food can combine to fill a void for families who might otherwise go without nutritious staples on non-school days,” said Regional Director Spearman. “TEO has left a powerful mark on their community when many families are struggling in a difficult economy.” Spearmen also serves as CEO of the Girl Scouts of Connecticut.

Adrienne Parkmond is the President of Theta Epsilon Omega and Sondi Jackson and Diane Forbes were Co-Chairmen of the chapter’s AKA CHIPP program. They praised the community partners who provided grants and donations that allowed the chapter to fulfill this hunger initiative, including Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church and Dominique Jones, a sorority sister. 

About Alpha Kappa Alpha and the North Atlantic Region:
Under the leadership of International President and CEO Danette Anthony Reed, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, is an international service organization founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1908. It is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American college-educated women and is comprised of more than 390,000 initiated members in graduate and undergraduate chapters in 15 countries and territories. Led by Regional Director Elicia Pegues Spearman, Esq., the North Atlantic Region is the birthplace of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The region encompasses 165 chapters throughout Connecticut, Eastern New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.