DG Hannahs’

News Bytes Delta Gamma Washington, DC

September 2009

Letter from the President

Hello Delta Gammas! ing. I can’t wait to report WDC DG will kickoff the Points of Interest:
back to you. fall with our very popular
• Champagne
annual champagne brunch
Welcome to the first fall Brunch
on September 12 starting
edition of WDC DG’s I would like to welcome • Member of the
at 12:30. Each year we
Hannahs’ News Bytes. anyone that recently Month
gather for a fabulous
moved to DC or just
brunch spread, informa- • Special from the
joined the alumnae chap-
I hope that you all enjoyed tive programming, great Washington Post
ter.
the summer season and fit networking, and fun! • Sister Snapshots!
in some vacation time. As
• WDC DG Cut Away
I write this letter, I am And best of luck to any-
We hope you can join us! Calendar
also preparing to embark one headed back to school
on a European adventure this fall! Don’t forget
with 6 of my DG alumnae about the exciting oppor-
sisters. From September tunities that WDC Delta ITB, •

19 – 26 we will call the Gamma has to offer.

Danielle Yates
little town of Faucon,
France (in the Provence President
Keep reading to find out In this Issue
region) our home! The
more about our fall pro-
adventure is sure to be full Member of the 2
gramming, community
of DG stories and songs, Month
service opportunities,
plus tons of wine and un-
scholarships and more. SIG Events 2
believable French cook-

Where are they 3

What not to miss this month now?

Fall Kickoff, DG. We hope you can Cost: Free! Food donations In the News 3
“Champagne Brunch” join us to find out what’s are welcome and appreciated.
Sailor Sisters 5
in store for the chapter
this fall! Volunteer 5
Join your fellow Delta For directions, more infor-
Gammas for WDC DG’s mation, to contribute, or Opportunities
annual and most popular Date: Saturday, September RSVP, contact Tonya
event. The champagne 12 at 12:30 pm Richardson at vpprogram-
brunch is the perfect op- ming@wdcdeltagamma.org.
portunity to see old
Location: The home of
friends and reconnect with
Jennifer Middleton, 4425 For more information or to
the alumnae chapter. We’ll
Yuma St, NW, Washing- RSVP, contact Tonya at
also introduce you to
ton, DC 20016 vpprogramming
other DGs that are new to
(Tenleytown Metro) @wdcdeltagamma.org
the DC area or to WDC
Member of the Month: Tonya Richardson
Tonya has hit the ground running in her new role as VP Programming. Thanks to
Tonya our social calendars stay full with opportunities to gather with our DG sisters.
This summer had some great programming events, including the awesome August
happy hour. When she's not being a fabulous DG, Tonya is a great friend to her DG
girls and landing huge accounts at work (Congrats!) We are all eagerly awaiting what
Tonya has in store for us this Fall. Thank you Tonya!

SweetPeas
September 18, 10am Long Branch
Nature Center, 625 S Carlin Springs
Road, Arlington, VA
Let your sweet pea enjoy one of the
last days of summer at Long Branch
Nature Center among 17 acres of
Oak-Hickory Forest, stroller acces-
sible trails and access to Long
Branch stream.
We will meet in the nature center
which features animal exhibits, a
children's discovery room and an
indoor pond. Free.
For directions and other informa-
tion, see:
http://www.arlingtonva.us/Depart
ments/ParksRecreation/scripts/nat
ure/ParksRecreationScriptsNatureL
ongbranch.aspx
Coming this fall! Moms Night
Out! Grab a babysitter and join
other DG moms for an evening
away from the kids.
For more information email Kerri
sweetpea@wdcdeltagamma.org
Dine Out
We'll be visiting a Dineout favorite -
SIG EVENTS
Lauriol Plaza near Dupont Circle.
Please join us on September 23 at
6:30 PM for Mexican and margaritas
on the rooftop!
Lauriol Plaza is located at 1835 18th
Street NW, less than a half mile
north of the Dupont Circle metro
station. This event was popular last
year, so please be sure to RSVP in
order to reserve enough seats.
Lauriol Plaza does not take reserva-
tions, so if anyone would like to
meet early for a drink and to reserve
a table, let us know! Please RSVP
to Tracey at dine-
out@wdcdeltagamma.org no later
than September 18.
Lunch Bunch
October 14
This Lunch Bunch is not to be
missed! First a tour conducted by
Docent Carol Harman, Delta Iota –
Georgia at Dunbarton House at 11
a.m. Followed by luncheon at Bis-
trot Lepic in Georgetown – a spe-
cial lunch to be sure! Watch for
your Evite the beginning of Octo-
ber. Contact hagor-
don44@comcast.net for more in-
formation.
Wine Tasting
Wine Group: Join your sisters for
some wine education this Fall!
First stop: a wine class at a local
wine bar in DC on Tuesday, Oc-
tober 6th (location TBD). Second
stop: Wine store night on Thurs-
day, November 5th at Best Cellars
in Clarendon.
For more information or to
RSVP, email Meredith at
wt@wdcdeltagamma.org.
DGs in DC & Book Club
DGs in DC and DG Book Club
do the 2009 National Book Festi-
val
When: Saturday, September 26th
Where: on the National Mall
What: Listen to authors such as
Judy Blume, David Baldacci,
Nicholas Sparks, Judy Picoult and
many more with book lovers for
free! *More details to come*
For information contact
Danielle at book-
club@wdcdeltagamma.org.

Page 2
Where are they now?
In this new series, we will highlight
some of our former members to let
you know what they are doing now.
Karen Schinnerer is back in town
(briefly). Karen was a long time
member of Book Club and a found-
ing member of the Wine Tasting
Special Interest Group.
Initiated at Denison College, Karen
moved to DC, along with new
member sister and current WDC
member Nicole Thomas Lutz, to
continue her DG experience as an
In the News
Whether a Delta Gamma or her
roommate, the Delta Gamma letters
in the photo of this recent article in
the Washington Post highlight the
needs of college students in these
uncertain economic times.
It is the beginning of the fiscal year
and a wonderful time to send a few
dollars to Delta Gamma Founda-
tion to support the scholarships,
fellowships and interest free student
loans that will help ensure a Delta
Gamma continues to have a vibrant
alumnae membership.
Donate now at
https://www.formrouter.net/forms
01@DGF/make_a_gift.html?audie
nce=students
alumnae member.
After completing a masters degree
at George Washington University,
Karen joined the Foreign Service.
A Harsh Lesson in
College Math
With Budgets Strained, Record
Numbers Appeal Financial Aid
Decisions
By Emma Brown and Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 20, 2009
College students are appealing fi-
nancial aid decisions this summer in
unprecedented numbers, an out-
pouring of need that underscores
how layoffs and pay cuts have bat-
tered household budgets in the past
year.
Mick Gulli lost his job as a beverage U.S. Education Department officials
distributor in May. He didn't know
how he would send his middle
daughter, Layne, back to Virginia
Tech, where her junior year will cost "reach out to your students . . . par-
$19,700 in tuition and fees, room
and board, transportation and
books. Then his wife saw personal- know there may be ways that you can
finance expert Suze Orman on "The help."
Oprah Winfrey Show," explaining
how cash-strapped college students
could appeal for more aid.
Stationed in India and then the Phil-
lipines, Karen is back in DC for a
few short months to brush up her
Spanish for her new posting in
Nicaragua.
If you see Karen at an event, please
say hello and let her know we miss
her!
If you know a member who should
be highlighted, send her information
to: anchora@wdcdeltagamma.org
Gulli appealed, and Virginia Tech
delivered: a package of $9,820 in
grants and $6,500 in loans, thousands
more than Layne would have re-
ceived without an appeal.
"It was the best news we've had in
quite a long time," said Gulli, of Roa-
noke County, Va., whose misfortune
had deepened with the recent death
of his father. "I can't tell you how
important it is to us to get our
daughter educated."
Appealing for more aid was a little-
known and seldom-advertised option
in higher education until this year.
wrote to financial aid administrators
in the spring, when most aid deci-
sions are made, urging them to
ticularly those who seem to have hit
a rough patch, to make sure that they
Because of lost income, thousands of
students across the Washington area
qualify for more aid this fall than
Page 3
In the News (cont. from pg. 3)
they were awarded this spring. Aid for-
mulas project a student's 2009 needs
based on 2008 earnings. But unemploy-
ment nearly doubled in Maryland be-
tween June 2008 and June 2009, from
4.4 percent to 7.5 percent, with similar
spikes in Virginia and the District.
"The best predictor usually is the previ-
ous year. Well, it isn't this year," said
John DeCourcy, financial aid director
at Washington and Lee University in
Lexington, Va.
The economic fallout, coupled with
record college enrollment and the aid
push by President Obama's administra-
tion, sent appeals into overdrive.
The University of Maryland has logged
nearly 1,000 appeals for the 2009-10
academic year, nearly twice the number
in all of the previous year. (Financial
aid works on an 18-month cycle, and
the cycle for 2009-10 began in January.)
Washington and Lee is processing
about 50 appeals this year, compared
with a normal tally of about 15. Vir-
ginia Tech has received 348 appeals this
cycle to date, compared with 294 for all
of last cycle. George Mason University
students have filed 369 appeals so far
this year, compared with 289 in the full
2008-09 academic year. Marymount
University, George Washington Uni-
versity and James Madison University
and all report the same trend.
"I'm seeing things I haven't seen in 20
years," said Sarah Bauder, financial aid
director at U-Md. One of her clients is
the child of a real estate mogul who
lost everything; another is a family
fleeced in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi
scheme.
Nationwide, appeals among students
filing the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid totaled 106,189 so far this
cycle and were on pace to exceed the
143,672 appeals filed in 2008-09. Ap-
peals have risen steadily since 2007-08,
when they totaled 112,407.
Families increasingly have stretched
their finances to pay college tuition,
which has been rising faster than infla-
tion for years. But this year has been
particularly difficult as college savings
plans have tumbled amid stock market
losses. More students are seeking aid;
for example, the volume of applications
rose 12 percent at U-Md. And 13 per-
cent at Virginia Tech this year. Col-
leges expected that more students than
usual would balk at attending, and they
admitted slightly larger classes this year
to compensate.
Aid appeals are coming from across the
spectrum of salary and class. Students
are appealing for aid at $8,000-a-year
state schools and $30,000 private insti-
tutions alike.
Debbie Berg of Winchester, Va., ap-
pealed to George Mason for more aid
for her daughter Kristen, a junior. Her
husband, a doctor, closed his practice
last year because it wasn't bringing in
enough money. The family had already
tapped a home equity line and retire-
ment funds to support the practice and
their older daughter, who graduated
from Cornell University in May.
"We weren't really in a position to take
out more loans to be able to help Kris-
ten," Berg said.
The appeal netted $3,000 in grants for
Kristen, on top of the $7,500 in loans
she had already been awarded. The ex-
tra funds "will basically pay for about
six months of her housing," Berg said,
"which is better than nothing, and it
wasn't another loan."
Universities are hard-pressed this year
to dole out more aid. State schools are
being asked to make cuts. Private
schools are coping with shrunken en-
dowments.
Some types of aid are essentially unlim-
ited, guaranteed by the federal govern-
ment to any student who demonstrates
sufficient need. Colleges can offer, for
example, a theoretically endless supply
of federal Pell grants and Stafford
loans, both need-based.
But most families appealing for aid
want grants, not loans, and Pell grants
max out at $5,350. Students seeking
more substantial funds must tap the
college's aid budget. Some schools have
set aside emergency reserves to cover
the onslaught of appeals.
George Mason created a $150,000
hardship fund last November. Wash-
ington and Lee allocated an additional
$1 million in aid; officials say no one
has yet been turned away for lack of
funds. And U-Md. launched a fundrais-
ing campaign called Keep Me Maryland
to help students at risk of dropping out
because of economic circumstances. It
has raised $254,000 so far.
Help is not available to everyone who
wants it. Students who appeal earlier in
the year are more likely to get it, aid
officials said. Juniors and seniors, for
whom the end of the journey is near,
might get preference over freshmen.
Many appeals have not yet been de-
cided. Jevita de Freitas, aid director at
George Mason, figures her office will
be busy right up to the end of the aca-
demic year.
"My pile of appeals has never been as
big as it is," she said, "and I've been
at Mason 17 years."
Page 4
Sailor Sisters New Member Committee
The most recent addition the Washington DC DG Alumnae Group:
Sailor Sisters New Member Committee!
Sailor Sisters is a committee dedicated to helping new alumnae members get acquainted with their
fellow Washington DC Delta Gamma sisters. New members will be paired with current members
based on their interests, chapter of initiation, hometown etc.

It is our hope that this "Sailor Sister" pairing will be a great way for new members to become
connected to the DG alumnae group here in Washington. As a sailor sister you can connect with
your new member over e-mail, join her for an alumnae chapter or SIG event, or even meet up for
social or professional networking opportunities outside of DG.

Please contact Katie Novaria, at vpmembership@wdcdeltagamma.org, if you are interested in be-

ing part of the committee or if you have any questions at all!

Volunteer with a Collegiate Chapter

AU Beta Epsilon- Needed for Anchor Clanker

Beta Epsilon is planning their major fundraiser, Anchor Clanker, on October 10 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
If you are interested in helping BE with this event, please contact Director of Anchor Clanker Audrey
Sheetz at audreysheetz@gmail.com. They need judges, timers, concession stand workers, help
with set-up and clean-up, etc. Donations are also accepted. Although any donation is graciously ap-
preciated, BE is looking for donations that can be used as prizes (gift certificates, game tickets, elec-
tronics). Please make checks payable to Beta Epsilon Chapter of Delta Gamma. If you would like
the donation to be tax deductible, make checks payable to the Delta Gamma Foundation. Please
send checks to (please mention Anchor Clanker in the memo line):

Audrey Sheetz (Director: Anchor Clanker)

4100 Massachusetts Ave. NW # 1121
Washington, DC 20016

GWU Beta Rho— Recruitment

Sept. 11: 5 - 11:30
Sept.12: 2 - 10:30
Sept. 13: 12 - 6:30 (Cooking Dinner: 4:30 - 6:30)
Sept. 14: 6:00 - 11:30

Interested women can contact Kate Galliers

at katherinegalliers@gmail.com
Page 5
 "From the outside looking in, you can never understand it. From the inside
looking out, you can never explain it." Unknown
Sister Snapshots

August Lunch Bunch enjoys a lunch at Chef Geoff's on New Mex-

ico Avenue then a tour given by the director of the Katzen Mu-
seum of American University. pictured: (l-r) Jill Nevius, Gale Ne-
mec, Lola Reinsch, Helen Gordon, Robyn Hickey, Penny Pagano,
Carol Harman

DG’s Dining out (Dukem) and celebrating Meredith’s Birthday (Elephant & Castle)!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

SEPTEMBER
• September 3, Wine Tasting, September in Spain,
• September 12, Fall Kick-off Champagne Brunch, 12pm
• September 18, DG Sweet Peas: Long Branch Nature Ctr.
• September, 19-26 DGs in Provence A little bird told me…
• September 23, DG Dine Out
Washington,DC DG Twitters!
OCTOBER
• October 6, Wine Tasting Event, details TBA
• October 15, Perfect on Paper Book Signing, 7pm
For event updates find the
NOVEMBER Washington,DC DG Alumnae
Chapter at:
• November 5, All American Wine & Potluck
• November 17, Foundation Holiday Toy Drive , 7pm
DECEMBER
DCDG Alumnae
• December 2, Wine Bar Night, details TBA
• December 15, Holiday Tea

Page 6