POTSDAM -- Omega Delta Phi Sorority alumni kicked off their 57th anniversary celebration during the Summer Festival and Alumni week with a school supplies drive for Lawrence Avenue Elementary School.

Community philanthropy has been the cornerstone of reunion activities for the past eight years, and is designed to support various causes in and around the Potsdam community.

“With a large number of our alumni involved in education, whether in the classroom or administration, we see the increasing need for school supplies to support our students on a daily basis” according to alumna Donnalyn E. Shuster, Class of 1978. “We selected the Potsdam Central School District several years ago for our community philanthropy project and are proud to have served all three buildings. As many of our alumni are employed in the field of elementary education, our focus continues this year on the needs of the Lawrence Avenue Elementary School students.”

The sisters donated a wide selection of much needed supplies including binders, notebooks, pens, pencils, highlighters, rulers, backpacks and items for the Maker Space room making back to school time a little easier for the students and families at Lawrence Avenue.

Many of the items were purchased locally as well, giving the sisters of Omega Delta Phi the opportunity to double their impact on the Potsdam community.

“Each year we really look forward to giving back to a worthy cause in this town that gave us so much when we studied here” said one of the Omega alumna. “We look forward to doing what we can to make someone’s day a little brighter by helping out where and however we can.”