Putting down roots
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metr.../29faybiz.html
By DONNA SOPER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/29/05
The two-story red brick building with imposing white columns looks as if it belongs on a university campus — not in the middle of a Peachtree City business park.
But don't expect giddy coeds to come running down the front steps any time soon.
W.A. Bridges Jr./AJC
(ENLARGE)
Kathy Williams (left) and Shellye McCarty, officers of Phi Mu Fraternity and Foundation, stand in front of the organization's new headquarters in Peachtree City.
The newly dedicated headquarters of Phi Mu Fraternity and Foundation on Westpark Drive is home to a serious business.
"It's the business of sisterhood," said Kathy Williams, national chairman of the board of the 153-year-old collegiate women's organization. "Phi Mu is about leadership, scholastic and academic excellence, and philanthropy. We want people to be the best they can be, and we work on that from day one when they pledge."
Though it's officially known as a "fraternity," a term more often associated with men's groups, Phi Mu, without a doubt, is a society for the advancement of women. It was founded in 1852 on the campus of Wesleyan Female College in Macon, before the word "sorority" came into use by similar women's groups, Williams said.
Today, Phi Mu claims 120 college and university chapters and 200 alumni chapters nationwide. Total membership exceeds 150,000, with 3,000 of those in metro Atlanta.
Phi Mu is run by a local staff of 25 and is directed by two national boards — one for the fraternity side that oversees policy and programming for the chapters and the other for the organization's foundation, which serves as the group's philanthropic arm.
The fraternity manages funds received from dues-paying members, and the foundation accepts charitable gifts that largely benefit Phi Mu's national philanthropy, the Children's Miracle Network.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the foundation is reaching out to members who have lost their homes or been displaced from universities or jobs. "Thousands of our sisters have been affected," said Shellye McCarty, foundation president. "If we can't be there for our sisters, then what's the point?"
Despite its wide membership and philanthropic reach, Phi Mu has never before had a permanent home, said Williams. The executive offices moved from city to city for many years, landing in Tucker in 1985 in what was supposed to be a temporary location.
"In the late 1990s, the national president at the time and I thought it was time to move forward," Williams said. "We looked all over Atlanta, from Buckhead to Dunwoody to Alpharetta, but we couldn't find what we wanted."
After a quick tour of Peachtree City in 1999, which included an impromptu meeting in the City Hall parking lot with former Mayor Bob Lenox, Williams said, the women selected a 5-acre lot in Westpark office park and took the idea back to the fraternity's boards for approval.
"We went into a major capital campaign in 2000," she said. "It was phenomenal. In just 2 1/2 years, we raised over $5 million from alumnae and friends."
The 33,000-square-foot building, now paid for and occupied since June, is as elegant on the inside as it is on the outside. The first floor houses staff offices plus a gift store, library, museum and conference room.
The basement level has a state-of-the-art leadership development center that can seat 150, a conference room, a supply room and a kitchen.
The quatrefoil, which is the shape of Phi Mu's badge, is in evidence throughout the building — from an inlay in the marble floor in the foyer to stained-glass windows, fabric in the elevator and ottomans in the museum. There's even one on a hot pink golf cart donated by a Texas alumna.
"I am so proud to have this new home for our organization, and I am truly excited about the unlimited program capabilities we will have for our membership here," Williams said.
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Group settles in after 153 years
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