Denver Area Panhellenic

In 1882 there was a mining disaster in England and Queen Victoria called upon citizens to help the victims’ families.  A group of women sewed clothing for the children and thus began the Needlework Guild.

In 1885 another group of women started the Needlework Guild of America (NGA) in Philadelphia.  In 1893 the Colorado economy suffered due to the change from silver to gold standard.  Yet another group of women wanted to help those in need and organized the Denver Branch of the NGA.  In 1922 DAP named NGA its official philanthropy.

As sewing clothing declined and purchasing clothing became more common, NGA changed its name to New Garments Always.  Today NGA collects new clothing and linens for distribution to local charities regardless of race, color or creed.  The nonsectarian national organization has just two paid employees.

Each year DAP collects items for donation to NGA.  Alumnae chapters and their individual members donate items and also cash, which the Philanthropy/Fundraising Committee uses to purchase more items.  Over 20 agencies in the Denver area ultimately benefit from these donations.  DAP has a long been one of the top supporters of NGA.

Each fall DAP collects school supplies that are donated to a needy public school in the Denver area at the beginning of the new year.

On January 25, 2001, the Philanthropy/Fundraising Committee delivered the school supplies to Crawford Elementary School in Aurora.   This is the 10th year DAP has donated school supplies to a school in the Denver area.

Crawford was nominated to receive the donation by one of its teachers, Jen Burkhardt of Alpha Sigma Alpha.   Jen comments, "Crawford is comprised of kids who are up against extreme odds.  Many of them are refugees from Nepal, Burma, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.  All of them are amazing kids who are doing their best to get by and succeed."  Of the 650 students at Crawford, 92% qualify for the free lunch program and 78% are English language learners.

DAP collected over 2,000 pencils, almost 1,000 pens, 13,000 sheets of notebook paper, almost 200 notebooks, 100 packages of crayons and over 200 glue sticks as well as colored pencils, markers, scissors, backpacks, tape, rulers and assorted folders.

Crawford principal, Kyle Conley, and community coordinator, Raquel Trujillo, greeted the committee, gave a tour of the school and gratefully accepted the donation.