Each year the Xi Delta Psi Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi meets at the end of April for its annual Founder’s Day Celebration. The Beta Sigma Phi sorority was founded in 1931 and now has over 200,000 chapters. There are chapters in every state in our country as well as 30+ other countries around the world. It was founded for the social, cultural and civic enrichment of its members and focuses mainly on local community service along with other activities as well. The Swainsboro Xi Delta Psi Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi was chartered in 1978 and today has 29 active members. Several of its members are still part of the original charter group.
This year the chapter held its Founder’s Day celebration on April 20, 2023, at The Sudie A. Fulford Community Learning Center, a part of East Georgia State College. Each year, as is the tradition, the chapter invites all former Ladies of the Year to join in the celebration. This year the chapter was very fortunate to have seven former Ladies join in the occasion. It was an honor having these ladies join us, Ann Peebles (2000), Bobbie Daughtry (2009), Shari Watt (2010), Hariett Ray (2011), Beverly Johnson (2018), Juanita Porter (2019), and Lisa Bertoch
(2021).
Founder’s Day is also the time that the sorority announces its choice for their upcoming Lady of the Year. This is always a challenging task as there are many women in the community that are deserving of this honor. One name kept coming up time and time again as the sisters went through the nomination process. After much consideration, Beta Sigma Phi is proud to announce their choice for the 2023 Lady of the Year, Mrs. Teresa Wiggins.
Mrs. Wiggins is well known in our community as she was born and raised here in Swainsboro. She is a very humble and modest woman and many of the wonderful things that she does may be done unbeknown to others and this is the way she prefers it. It took much thought to come up with the right word to describe Miss Teresa. It finally came to light; she is a perfect example of a benevolent person. She is an unselfish, generous, kind, compassionate and a giving woman, just to name a few. It is qualities such as these that helped in choosing the current Lady of the Year. What she does in and for this community and for other people is boundless, but she prefers to be inconspicuous in her actions. It can be summed up best using her very own
simple but powerful words. “I love The Lord and I love to help people”. The sisters of the Xi Delta Psi Chapter have great respect for Mrs. Wiggins and are honored to call her the 2023 Beta Sigma Phi Lady of the Year. In keeping with a relatively new tradition the sorority honors the new Lady of the Year by donating to the charity of her choice. Mrs. Wiggins chose The Sunshine House as her charity and a $100.00 donation was made in her honor.
