Ball State Panhellenic Council to host ball for Kappa Delta with cancer

Greek Life Ball: 

6-9 p.m. Sunday, April 12 

After a member of Greek life was diagnosed with breast cancer, Ball State’s Panhellenic Council decided to step up and do what it could to help. 

The council decided to organize a Greek Life Ball for Sarah Stockton, a senior political science and public communication major and member of Kappa Delta.

The ball, which is on Sunday and is open to anyone, is a fundraising event to help Stockton with medical bills. The council has raised $6,275 for Stockton, surpassing its goal of $4,200.

Stockton said she was “overwhelmed with how kind they all are” when she found out what PHC was doing for her.

When she was first diagnosed this past year, Stockton said her sorority gave her a strong support system.

“I give so much credit to the Greek community as a whole and then especially to those women [Kappa Deltas],” Stockton said. “When I was first diagnosed, of course I was struggling with how do I tell them.”

Stockton told her best friends about her diagnosis, who then told the rest of the sorority about it a few days later.

“That was huge, because that’s a really scary thing to tell the people you love,” Stockton said.

That day, her sorority sisters created a GoFundMe to help her family pay for medical bills. Stockton said they all started sharing it on social media, which is how the word got out.

“We’re so grateful, and they’ve been so helpful,” Stockton said. “Cancer is not only hard, but financially trying. It’s been really helpful.”

But her sisters were there for more than just the monetary support. They also gave emotional support on the harder days for Stockton.

“I remember my first day of chemo … I got so many texts that day from so many Kappa Delta women, like ‘Hey we’re thinking about you,’ ‘We’re praying for you,’ and that meant so much,” Stockton said. “Even through the whole journey, I’ll get these random texts from sisters that — to be honest, I’m not even that close to — but they’ll say ‘Hey I’m thinking about you’ and I know they mean that.”

Stockton was the Vice President of Community Service and Philanthropy for PHC in 2014, so she said she worked with the President of PHC, Caren Adelsperger, when they were serving together.

Adelsperger said coming together as a community for Stockton is something they wanted to do as a council to give back for what she has done for them.

“I was thinking of what I wanted this event to be, trying to think of something that would not only give back to Sarah, but allow her to have the time of her life,” Adelsperger said. “I think having a nice night to get dressed up and feel great about herself and be surrounded by her family and friends, I thought that would be something she would love.”

The event is open to anyone on campus — not just Greek Life members.

“We wanted to have every one of Sarah’s friends … I wanted to make this event about Sarah and not about who could or couldn’t come,” Adelsperger said. “It was about Sarah having the most important people in her life around her and if there was someone from [any organizations] wanted them to be there.”

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