Chapter BD, North Carolina, Adds to P.E.O.!

You Add to P.E.O. is a fun initiative within the P.E.O. Sisterhood where chapters are challenged to add two or more active members by February 28, 2025. Chapters that meet this initiative are eligible for special recognition, including being featured on the P.E.O. website.

Chapter BD, Durham, North Carolina, was selected for August! As of August 1, the chapter had added 4 new members since the beginning of the initiative. Read below to learn more about the chapter.

What does your chapter do for fun?

We regularly gather for lunch at a local restaurant following our Saturday morning business meetings and we enjoy taking group tours of museums in the Durham area. A December holiday social that includes friends and family is always a very popular event.

What has been your most successful fundraiser?

Our most successful fundraiser is the ongoing sale of P.E.O. greeting cards, with each set featuring five different cards designed by a BD sister. These are sold at local reciprocity events and on the Marguerite Marketplace section of the North Carolina State Chapter website.

What is your best tip for finding new members?

Our best tip is to cast a wide net –there are potential new members everywhere! Last September, we held an afternoon social at a local park and invited women we’d encountered through various means to join us to learn more about P.E.O. There were women introduced on the “not a P.E.O.” form, unaffiliates, former chapter members who had gone inactive, project candidates we had sponsored, mothers of project candidates and women who had been guest speakers at chapter meetings.

Our program theme for the year was “Empowered Women,” and we had invited high-profile local women to speak to us about their career paths. These included a North Carolina state representative, the director of the Durham Animal Protection Society, a fire department battalion chief and the director of a local land conservancy organization. Several of the women who attended the social have since joined the chapter by initiation or transfer, and we continue to encourage recruits to join us for programs and post-meeting lunches.