Kappa Delta to host Carolina Green dinner

Kappa Delta’s Go Green! Shamrock Dinner is going green this evening — and they’re not talking about clovers.

The sorority’s fundraising dinner will be considered a Carolina Green event, which means UNC deems it highly sustainable.

The dinner, located at the Kappa Delta sorority house at 219 E. Franklin St., will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $5, and all proceeds will benefit Prevent Child Abuse America and the Center for Child and Family Health.

Kenneth Bryan, a second-year law student and intern at the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling, said being Carolina Green means going the extra mile.

“It’s when people have taken substantial steps to be green instead of one or two,” Bryan said.

Carolina Green is an initiative started by UNC’s Sustainability Office and the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling to promote sustainability on campus.

Sophomore Mary Cooper, a member of Kappa Delta, has spent the past few months planning the logistics of how to make the dinner sustainable.

Sororities typically host a dinner before a 5K to raise money for their cause and to offer a carb-packed meal for runners.

“We wanted to do something new this year, not your traditional sorority spaghetti dinner,” said Cooper, also a co-chairwoman of student government environmental affairs committee. “We wanted to make it bigger and better.”

This year, the Kappa Deltas are trading pasta for potatoes, and it’s not just in honor of the great Irish staple. Cooper said the meal will be vegetarian since it is more environmentally friendly. The menu includes a baked potato bar, vegetarian chili and sweet potatoes.

“Essentially more than 75 percent of our food is local or organic, which is remarkable considering most of our food this far has been donated,” Cooper said.

To make the dinner Carolina Green, Kappa Delta will offer compostable plates, napkins and utensils. They’re also decorating with biodegradable balloons and even procured biodegradable string for them.

Cooper said fliers and tickets were printed on 100 percent recycled paper. She said there will be a bike rack on the front yard and that they are encouraging transportation by foot, bus or carpool.

Compost bins will also be provided by Carolina Green.

Bryan said the green event initiative has been in place for about two years.

“We’ve really been working to boost up this program along with Carolina Green trying to make it easier for people to go green for different events,” he said.

Bryan added that making events green has become increasingly popular, with almost 40 taking place since June.

Bryan offered what he calls a green coordinator training session in December that about 30 people attended. Several of those in attendance — including Cooper — were part of the Greek Sustainability Council, a voluntary group created for Greek students to make their chapters more sustainable.

“It’s not that hard to do,” said freshman Elyse Elder, a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

Elder, who represents her sorority on the Greek Sustainability Council, attended the December training session.

“It’s easier to start out with dinners like KD is doing,” she said.

Cooper said the event has been worth the effort.

“I’m hoping this dinner not only inspires green events within the Greek community but also other initiatives within our houses about being environmentally friendly and conscious of what we’re doing,” Cooper said.



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