Lincoln Bassett Community School Assistant Principal Eva Schultz with Theta Epsilon Omega members Doris Dumas, Eddie Joyce; North Atlantic Regional Director Elicia Pegues Spearman; and TEO members Tanasia Edwards and Diane Forbes.(Provided by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.) Credit: Provided by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.-Theta Epsilon Omega members Stephanie Willis, Tanasia Edwards, and Lisa Stevenson get ready to deliver boxes of CHIPP bags for Lincoln Bassett Community School students and their families to have nutritious meals when they are not in school. (Photos courtesy of the North Atlantic Region) Credit: Photos courtesy of the North Atlantic Region

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

“Your commitment to our school community has made a profound impact on our students and their families,” said Lincoln Bassett Principal Rosalind Garcia. “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 who do not have the benefit of free school meals.

AKA members of Theta Epsilon Omega (TEO) Tanya Townsend and Lisa Stevenson; North Atlantic Regional Director Elicia Pegues Spearman; and TEO member Diane Forbes prepare Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Packs at Lincoln Bassett Community School. (Photos courtesy of the North Atlantic Region, AKA) Credit: Photos courtesy of the North Atlantic Region, AKA

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 (crackers), 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 Spearman. “TEO has left a powerful mark on their community when many families are struggling in a difficult economy.” Spearman is also CEO of the Girl Scouts of Connecticut.

Adrienne Parkmond, president of Theta Epsilon Omega, and Sondi Jackson and Diane Forbes were co-chairs 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.

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