Story By: Amanda Boothe
MONTEVALLO, Ala. – On Nov. 9 Alpha Gamma Delta the sorority held its annual philanthropic event, Lip Jam. This event is something that organizations take weeks to prepare for and is known as one of the biggest events on campus.
“Hunger is one of the biggest problems in the world and each time I am able to go to a food pantry, contribute to a food drive, or raise money for this with my sisters, I hope that it is helping turn the tides, even if it is just for one family or person.”
Rivers Haley
What is Lip jam?
The event is a lip-sync battle that different Greek organizations participate in. All the money raised goes to Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation, which is split up between Meals on Wheels and Feeding America, the two charities the sorority supports.
Each year a theme is given out, and this year the theme was musicals. The organizations that participated in the event had to choose from a list of musicals and put together a performance.
Preparing for the event takes a lot of collaboration and ideas. Abby Truitt, Alpha Gam’s director of recruitment took on a bit of the choreography process and said she took most inspiration from the video game “Just Dance.” “It was really hard. I love dance. It is my favorite part of theater. Singing and dancing are like my most favorite parts of performing, but I love learning dances. I am not very good at coming up with them, but I jumped in because I thought it was fun and I pulled out a lot of my ‘Just Dance’ knowledge.” Truitt said.
Even though having a dance routine and music is a huge part of this event, being able to practice, communicate, and put in a lot of effort is also an essential part of the process. Rivers Haley, the sorority’s philanthropy chair, did the majority of the planning for the event. “It was stressful.” “Setting up practice locations and times, coordinating between different organizations, sending out the messages and all the other things to put an event on.” Rivers said.
Despite all the stress around planning and performing, it still seemed to go smoothly for the organizations, and everyone had fun. “This year’s Lip Jam was more incredible by being able to lead and host it. from watching other groups perform, looking at my sisters on stage and seeing their smiles while we were performing. We had absolutely rocked Lip Jam.” Rivers said.
Among sororities, Phi Mu won first place for their “Hamilton” – inspired performance. Chi O took second for their “Grease” – themed routine
Fiji’s “Little Shop of Horrors” performance took top prize for fraternities. followed by Alpha Kappa Lambda’s second place win for “The Greatest Showman.”
Lip Jam is not just for fun performances or competitions it has a bigger role. Fighting Hunger. “Hunger is one of the biggest problems in the world and each time I am able to go to a food pantry, contribute to a food drive, or raise money for this with my sisters, I hope that it is helping turn the tides, even if it is just for one family or person.” Said Rivers.
Alpha Gamm Delta raised over $2,000 for this year’s event. “This years Lip Jam was definitely a success. Not only did we raise over $2,000, but people were able to come out and have fun. We were able to raise a good amount of money to fight hunger, while also bringing some joy to the Montevallo community. That’s a win in my book.” Rivers said.
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