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Alumni sorority fuses jazz, fashion, food at fundraiser
By Robert Connelly
YOUNGSTOWN
In a picnic-like atmosphere, a community-centered alumni sorority hosted a jazz night that featured a fashion revue Sunday night.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Youngstown Alumnae chapter features 100 members, 45 of whom pay dues, from Mahoning and Trumbull counties as well as from New Castle, Pa. The event, A Summer Jazz Soiree, had about 160 attendees, according to Sherri Lovelace-Cameron, Theta’s co-chairwoman of fundraising.
The event ran from 5 to 9 p.m. at Antioch Hall off Meridian Road. David Taylor and the Legacy Band played jazz throughout the event, taking two breaks. During one of those breaks, a 30-minute fashion revue took place. It featured nine models, who recently were inducted into Theta’s alumni chapter, and it showcased between 25 and 30 items from 5 Grands Fashions of Warren.
Store owner Rosalyn Hill was on hand and said her store has been in downtown Warren, 367 High Street NE, for 31/2 years. it is now in the middle of an expansion at that location, which will feature “more floor space, and we’re going to expand inventory,” Hill said.
Hill said the fashion her store offers is from “dressing casual to formal with moderate price points. Very affordable.”
The fashion revue was new to the event this year. “We want to do something different, and we’re committed to economic development,” Lovelace-Cameron explained.
Nikki Davis, spokeswoman of the chapter, added, “We like to promote women and minority business, so that’s why we picked her.”
This is the third year of the event, which didn’t have catering this year but allowed people to bring in their own snacks and beverages. Fruits, sandwiches, wine and meat were common among the tables as people weaved through the different tables catching up with other attendees.
Lovelace-Cameron said tickets were sold for $25 each with the proceeds going toward after-school programming.
Davis and Lovelace-Cameron said the group focuses on five elements: political awareness, international awareness and involvement, education development, economic development, and physical and mental development.
Davis said the group is involved with each of those causes throughout the year — from voter registration to providing schools with backpacks and supplies.
Delta Sigma Theta has been in the Mahoning Valley since 1952 and its membership ranges from recent college graduates to members in their 80s and 90s. For more information about the group, visit www.youngstowndst.com.