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DKG Practice/Program

donate to Early Childhood and Kindergarten classrooms as a service project.
• Facilitated book readings, individual and small-group instruction, and after-school programming.
• Donated time (planning, driving, purchasing...), treats, 25+ yards of fleece, and $700 for the school
discretionary fund.
The chapter project “inspired…(our) chapter to help in the local community” (Wolf, 2022, p. 50). We
are reminded that funds are not required to volunteer at a school so, in essence, we didn’t need funding
to do an impactful project. The volunteer work received accolades and attention at the school and, later,
at our culminating program. Acquiring funding, however, helped us buy blankets and books to build
personal libraries at home—the heart of our project. The funding gave us confidence to move forward.
Donations were appreciated by the school. As Becky Nichol, leader of our after-school project put it, “I
think any time we can surround students with soft, cuddly blankets, a good book, and an opportunity to
talk, we are in the right place.” When implementing the chapter project, we became a superorganism. Apis
mellifera has nothing on us. We developed powers that enabled us to volunteer, donate books and blankets,
and support the school’s discretionary fund. The experience taught us that our limits as a chapter are only
defined by what we dare try together, empowered with a chapter project.
Special Acknowledgements

Omega Chapter wishes to thank the Esther Pilster Endowment Fund (Nebraska Rho State Organization)
for helping fund this project. As background, Esther Pilster (1916–2014) was a highly regarded educator in
Nebraska who started her teaching career in a one-room school in Gage County, Nebraska (Howard, 2014;
Stromburg Headlight, 1969). She moved to Omaha and worked as a teacher before she became a principal.
Esther Pilster was an Omega Chapter member who served as president of Nebraska State Organization
in the 1960s. She was known for dressing in costume and taking on the role of the Statue of Liberty (and
others such as Betsy Ross, for example) when giving presentations
(Howard, 2014). A local Omaha park bears her name in honor of her
community work. She was not only named an outstanding educator
by the Omaha World Herald (2014) newspaper, but she also received
a key to the City of Omaha for her community work. When she died,
she left a nice endowment fund to stimulate teachers and chapters in
Nebraska to enhance educational excellence and engage members
in DKG’s seven Purposes. How fitting that Esther Pilster’s spirit of
educating with a flair is still with us, inspiring us to be engaged as a
chapter and take action in the community.
Special credit also goes to Omega Chapter’s Special Project
Committee members who served as leaders in this project: Becky
Nichol, Linda Heath, and Pam Norlin. We wish to thank Dr. Christina
Warner, principal, for her collaborative parnership with us. Finally,
Jeanne Stark, Omega Chapter we thank First Book Foundation for their willingness to help us
co-president, and Dr. Warner, purchase books from their marketplace. First Book Foundation
principal, meet to identify project requires that at least 70% of book recipients live in poverty and that
goals beneficial to the school. the donated books go toward building personal libraries at home.

Dr. M. Susan McWilliams, a member of Omega Chapter in Nebraska State Organization, is an associate professor emeritus from
Omaha, Nebraska. Her interests lie in honey bees, early childhood education, and grandchildren. msusanmcwilliams@gmail.com

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