Philanthropy:

Alpha Phi is the only fraternity with its own Foundation. Since 1946, Alpha Phi has focused on heart disease and cardiac care as a philanthropic priority. In 1956, the Alpha Phi Foundation was formed and has made women's cardiac care a priority in the lives of many young women. Today, research into the diagnosis and treatment of women's heart disease is still the primary interest of the Alpha Phi Foundation.

Why Cardiac Care?

In 1946, Alpha Phis gathered at Convention in Quebec — the hot topic: adopting an international philanthropic cause. During World War II, countless philanthropy projects were successful at the international level. "...War-time projects were very successful and had given us an idea of what we could do as a unified whole," wrote Catherine Wilson Storment, the first cardiac aid chairman, in the 1947 Winter Quarterly. Now the question became: What would Alpha Phi do in peacetime?

At that time, rheumatic fever — a disease that causes serious, debilitating damage to the heart — was a leading killer of school age children in the United States. Alpha Phi wanted to help these children, but it also wanted freedom to contribute money and service to other programs. Cardiac aid fit the bill — chapters and members were able to donate funds and service to various educational and research projects.

During the next few decades, modern antibiotic therapy sharply reduced mortality and cases of rheumatic fever became rare. Heart disease became the #1 killer of women in North America, and Alpha Phi Foundation thought it fitting that an organization of women help fight it.

Since 1946, Alpha Phi has donated more than $1 million to support cardiac health initiative.

Find more information by visiting our Foundation website at http://www.alphaphi org/foundation/.

Chapter Support:

We support the Foundation in various ways. Each October, our Chapter hosts a campus-wide Pancake Breakfast. Our Philanthropy is open to the entire student and faculty population at the University of Iowa along with the local community.

The Foundation:

Alpha Phis are sisters for life — we support one another and help each other in times of need. The Alpha Phi Foundation helps, too, through two funds that benefit sisters when they need it most. The Forget-Me-Not Fund assists Alpha Phi alumnae who are facing serious health problems, natural disasters, or other crises. The Emergency Aid Fund offers aid to any undergraduate member facing an interruption of her education because of an unforeseen financial crisis.

Cardiac Care Award:

For nearly 50 years, Alpha Phi has focused on women's cardiac health as a philanthropic priority. Through its annual Cardiac Care Award, the Alpha Phi Foundation helps to fund research and educational programs that support women's cardiac health. As a result of these efforts, health care professionals and women everywhere are learning more about the causes, prevention and treatment of heart disease —the number one killer of women.