The power of a print

A month or so ago, it seemed as though my Facebook newsfeed and Twitter stream were full of posts about Lilly Pulitzer prints from women all over the sorority world. My comment at the time was:

"What could happen if we harnessed the power of the sorority women vying for Lilly Pulitzer prints and actually did something meaningful?" 11:25 PM Mar 4th via Echofon


This weekend, the posts about prints have returned in force. I've been invited to Facebook events encouraging me to vote. (I said "no, thanks.") Here's the thing: I can somewhat understand why you want to rally tens of thousands of members around the country in order to be able to say that your organization is the next one to get a print. Somewhat. But I'd understand a lot more if you used that exact same power on a regular basis to do something more meaningful and impactful for our world.

Think about the number of women across the country (and around the world) who have connected with this effort through their national organizations in one form of social media or another. What if just half of those women who have engaged in this effort on some level gave $1 each to the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation to create educational opportunities for women worldwide? Or donated $1 each to your sorority educational foundation to create scholarships for women to participate in educational or leadership events? Or donated $1 to your national organization's philanthropic cause of choice? You could contribute to support students in attending one of the AFLV Global Immersion Trips (as pictured above).  Or one might just simply share about one of these important causes on their Facebook wall or Twitter feed instead of, or, in addition to sharing about how they voted for a print. What if?

We have tremendous power as sorority women. I truly believe we can change the world. That responsibility belongs to you, and it belongs to me. If it makes you feel better, make sure you have a really fashionable matching bag and scarf in your organization's print as you set out on that mission. And, in the meantime, my kudos to the marketing team at Lilly Pulitzer for a job well done.