Women dedicated to helping women, and the community

SUSSEX Co., Del. – A group of women of color say they’re dedicated to public service, helping the community and helping people recover from the pandemic. “We see what goes on and we wanna know how we can help anyway that we can,” says Sussex County Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority member, Jere Hutson.

The Sussex Co. Chapter of DSTS tells us, they’ve always been dedicated to helping the community. However, as needs rise so does their desire to help. They have become a group of women of color helping one another to reach their fullest potential, while also giving back to the community. “The women of the chapter are so passionate about helping other women,” says Sherita Belle, President of the Sussex Co. Chapter of DSTS. “So we need to educate them so they can be healthy and sustain and take care of their families.”

According to a chapter member we spoke with, they found a few major needs in Sussex County, homelessness, affordable housing, and helping families recover from the pandemic. “Women have struggled so much, economically, health wise; there is a disparity between brown and black women,” says Belle.

With the chapter’s recent statewide initiative of delivering toiletries to the Delaware Adolescent Program, they tell 47 ABC they realized how important it was to help those struggling with basic needs, especially coming out of this pandemic. However, they say their work is far from over. “Now that we’re kind of opening up, people are vaccinated and everything and moving around outside more and people can gather, so we’re working on looking into different projects that we can do so as we get together as a chapter, we can see where it takes us,” says Hutson.

As the group of women prepares for Juneteenth, they say it’s time to uplift women to in turn, uplift the community. “That’s the great thing about being a part of this organization is that women help not just women, but all the communities,” says Belle.

Moving forward, those with the chapter also tells us they have numerous projects in the works. Many projects focusing on educating the youth, providing health resources, and continuing to address the affordable housing issues throughout the county.

If you want to stay up to date with the chapter’s events, just visit their Facebook page.