The Cal State Bakersfield sorority chapter Phi Sigma Sigma hosted their 21st annual Rock-A-Thon event on March 7.
The event took place in the Northwest Promenade in Rosedale outside of Cold Stone Creamery and Sequoia Sandwich Co. With the support of local firefighters, the sorority was able to hang their sign up high, which made it hard for those who were in the area to miss.
“I think it’s exciting because it’s a way for our friends and family to be involved,” said the new philanthropy chair of Phi Sigma Sigma, Krista Malloy.
Complete with rocking chairs and a raffle, the Rock-A-Thon’s primary goal is to raise money for the National Kidney Foundation. For six hours, participants rocked away in rocking chairs. During the event, an hourly drawing was done for all those who paid $2 per ticket.
Among the prizes were gifts and gift cards that were donated by businesses such as P.F. Chang’s, Sephora, Body Exchange, Regal Cinemas, Trader Joe’s and many others. And the rocking chairs were donated for the event from Babies R Us along with a few others brought by some of the sorority members.
So, why the National Kidney Foundation, and why rocking chairs?
“All the sorority chapters across the nation do it,” said Malloy. Since the mission statement of Phi-Sig has always been “to inspire the personal development of each sister and perpetuate the advancement of womanhood,” it only seemed appropriate to put together a fundraiser for kidney disease, which at the time that it started, 1969, just happened to be the number one cause of death for women.
As for the rocking chairs, patients with kidney disease are told to rock in rocking chairs to bring blood circulation to the kidneys, said Malloy. In addition to this being an important cause for the organization, it’s also personal for the Bakersfield chapter.
“We do this every year in honor of one of our very own sisters, Jenine Weirather, who died years ago,” said key adviser and 10-year volunteer of Phi-Sig, Joanne Barrick.
Weirather was philanthropy chair of the sorority in 1994. She was in the process of planning the Rock-A-Thon that year when on the way home from a chapter meeting, she was struck and killed by another car.
Although she is no longer with the sorority physically, they still make sure her memory lives on.
“Her parents come out every year and donate money to our fundraiser because they know how important it was to their daughter,” added Barrick.