2019 Founders' Day Proclamation copy

The past 121 years have been filled with sisters demonstrating what it means to “Be Zetas True,” the phrase National Council selected as the 2018-2020 biennium theme. Being Zetas True calls for each of us to live the values our Founders exemplified. For the remainder of this biennium, ZTA will issue a new challenge every month to help us keep those values in mind. In honor of Frances Yancey Smith, first chairman of the Philanthropy Committee, October’s charge is to “be compassionate,” which links to our Service & Philanthropy Key Value.

Founders' Day Proclamation

“Inspired by the desire to help those to whom life has been less generous.”

Those are the opening words of the brochure for Zeta Tau Alpha’s first service project, a health center dedicated 90 years ago in the impoverished Currin Valley of Virginia.

The residents of the secluded mountain hollows were immigrants who trekked westward after the War of 1812. More than a century later, their descendants lived in the valley in rudely constructed shacks with dirt floors. Mostly uneducated, they lived in isolation and were suspicious of outsiders. The Fraternity sought to help them help themselves by improving their health conditions. Although the residents were initially hesitant to visit the center, ZTA’s care and concern slowly dispelled their fears.

Nurse Mary Crosby made house calls in a Ford sedan with “ZTA” on the door and treated patients in a log cabin. Founder Frances Yancey Smith, first chairman of the Philanthropy Committee, made frequent visits, assisting Nurse Crosby and caring for children who often lived at the center. On each visit, Frances signed the guest book.

ZTA alumnae and chapters sent medical equipment, clothing, books, Christmas gifts and monetary donations. Members volunteered to teach classes on cooking, canning, sewing, handcrafts and construction.

In the darkest days of the Great Depression, Zetas responded to Frances' plea for help. “Zeta Tau Alpha was born and bred when there was a great scarcity of money in our land,” she wrote. “We should be able to face hard times together again.”

As I toured the new Historical and Educational Center this summer, I was moved to see Frances' signature on a page of the health center guest book and a picture of her holding an abandoned baby. She gave us an incredible legacy of service.

In this second year of our biennium theme, “Be Zetas True,” may we all pledge to be as compassionate and empathetic as Frances and all our sisters who embraced “those to whom life has been less generous.”

Given under my hand and seal, I proclaim the fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand and nineteen, as our 121st Founders’ Day.

Alicia Patten Williams
National President