Danielle Sheahan
Delta Omicron Lambda, commonly known around campus as DOL, is a women’s service organization on campus. Since DOL’s founding, DOL and Russell House have had a very close relationship. Russell House has been a safe house for disadvantaged women and their children could go when they need a safe place to stay since 1994. Their motto is “a safe place for victims of domestic and sexual violence.” Sometimes this can mean a brief period until they can get back on their feet and other times, it could be the long stretch while hiding from an abusive partner. Naturally, security is a priority, so much so that people are not even allowed to have Russell House’s address written down. Their address is only given verbally and only to people that can be trusted. They also provide individual, adult, and children’s counseling, a 24-hour crisis hotline, batterers intervention, court advocacy, support groups, and much more.
DOL raises funds and is constantly volunteering their time at Russell House in Rolla. Members help out with things like holiday parties for the kids, weekly babysitting, meal preparation, or anything else that needs to be done around the house. Members have created a very close relationship with the house and Russell House has grown to accustomed to their presence and help, deeply appreciating the extra hands. One DOL member, Alicia McCabe, described how babysitting for the first few weeks lead to coming in to babysit every week because of two siblings that adored her. She and another member also comment on how rewarding it is to see, firsthand, the impacts of their fundraising and volunteer-work.
“You know exactly where the money DOL fundraises goes because you see it firsthand.” - Alicia McCabe, DOL member
In a few short weeks, on April 29th, DOL is sponsoring their 10th annual pub crawl through downtown Rolla to raise money for Russell House. It is $5.00 for the wristband, granting you access to exclusive drink specials at The Grotto, Shots, Locker Room, Public House, Sidney’s, and Ricky Bobby’s. The drink specials go from 7:00 PM till “last call for alcohol” at each location. All the proceeds from the wristbands will go directly to Russell House. If you would like to participate, you can buy the wristbands at participating locations the night of from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Payment will be accepted in the forms of $5.00 cash, check or venmo. Additionally, DOL is also selling wristbands before the day of the event. Most organizations have a designated DOL assigned to them as a wristband liaison - so check and see if your organization has a DOL liaison and sign up! It is a lot of fun since it is one of the last Saturdays of the spring semester. It is a fantastic way to get in those last great memories before the summer starts or graduating and going off to your new “big kid” job.
“The most rewarding part is giving the check to the Russell House and knowing that our hard work is helping them pay for the things they need.” - Alisia Hassler, DOL Service Chair
Another fundraiser that DOL organizes is their annual soup dinner in the fall school semester. It is, by far, their largest event and they are always asking for more people to participate and even volunteer. More information for this fall’s soup dinner will be available later this year. If you or someone you know would like to help more with Russell House, besides going to fundraising events, you do not need to join DOL to volunteer. You can find volunteer applications online and where to turn them in at. If you are a female student attending S&T as a full-time student you can always consider joining DOL too!
