In this not-to-be-missed episode as part of National Childhood Cancer Awareness month, we sit down with two legendary sisters (Tri Delta and biological), Cora Beth Hartfield and Meade Hartfield, both Mississippi State, who were transformative members of Tri Delta at the very beginning of our partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Hear how it all started, the incredible impact these women still have on cancer awareness and fundraising, and their inspiring Tri Delta story.
If you’ve ever been curious about how our partnership with St. Jude first began, we have a story for you! Meet sisters Cora Beth and Meade and hear firsthand how these trailblazing women—along with their Beta Mu Chapter sisters—turned one bold idea into a domino effect. They’ll take you back to the 1990s to share how they organized their very first fundraising initiatives without the help of social media or modern-day technology to spread the word. They’ll share their concept of “the power of one” and how college students opened the doors to gender equality showing how sorority women can make a change at a business level.
You’ll also learn about their ongoing cancer advocacy work through the Flamingo Day Foundation—launched right here on our podcast and inspired by their late mother’s battle with inflammatory breast cancer. Plus, get a preview of Meade's soon-to-be-released documentary “Inflammingo.” Learn more at Inflammingo.com.
We hope this episode serves as a reminder that powerful changes begin with a single step, and we’re all thankful for the steps Cora Beth and Meade have taken to support each other, lift up our sisters, and impact cancer treatment and research throughout their lives.
This transcript was created using automated technologies and may contain errors.
Welcome back to our Let's Talk Tri Delta podcast. I'm Mindy Tucker,
Tri Delta's interim CEO and your host today for our incredible podcast. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And childhood cancer has been the philanthropic focus of Tri Delta since the 1940s.
We're always raising awareness about childhood cancer now through our historic partnership with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. And today we're gonna get a little bit more of that backstory about how that partnership came to be.
From two of our guests who are incredible Tri Delta sisters from the Beta Mu chapter at Mississippi State. They are also biological sisters and they've both been instrumental in helping form our partnership with St.
Jude and have continued their passion as advocates for cancer awareness treatment and fundraising. I'm so excited to welcome them today so you can hear their story and get even more excited about this incredible work that we do with St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital. So, Meade Hartfield and Cora Beth Hartfield, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for inviting us. So glad to have you here.
We've had a chance to talk and hear the story and sort of understand how so much of this partnership came to be. And it feels crazy not to share that story with all of our members and tell a little bit of this history.
And I think Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is a great month to do it. So I'm glad we're doing this in September. Why don't we start with talking a little bit about your Tri Delta journey and how you came to Mississippi State and how you ended up as Tri Deltas there?
Okay, well, I was first in Tri Delta. Well, actually, our mother, Sherry, was a Tri Delta at the Phi Epsilon. Shout out to Southern Miss. So we are triple, we're legacies. And I came to stay in 1996 and joined the Beta Mu chapter and absolutely loved it.
And then Meade came along making her own decision, but you know, she was somewhat doomed for the beginning because I put the pressure on her to join, and so I'll let her tell her story and kick us off with the St.
Jude stuff. - So I joined the Beta Mu chapter at Mississippi State in 1997, and we were both leaders within our chapter. I served as social chairman,
and most importantly, philanthropy chair, which was just becoming a thing in the late '90s, and so It had never really taken center stage.
And that's exactly why they gave it to me, was to make something out of nothing, which we did. It was awesome. We were very involved with the fraternities and supporting their organizations.
And Sigma Chi is a great example. They had their Derby days. And that year they raised $40 ,000. And I looked down the row and I said, if they can do it, we can do it and we were probably one of if not the first collegiate chapter to raise 40 grand a large sum back in the late 90s and we did this for St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital of course you know Mississippi State is close to Memphis and so we had had a historical relationship with the hospital and had raised some small dollars for them over the years and this was just an opportunity to scale this.
And because of the success of that first year, which I give all credit to my members and my sister's for doing that,
St. Jude then asked me to write a manual that I could share with other chapters, which would enable them to replicate the success.
And they also asked me to call nationals and see if we could get the folks from nationals, Tri Delta, to Memphis. And that was the game changer for what became the partnership between Tri Delta and St. Jude. Because getting to the hospital and seeing firsthand the work, the research, the treatment, the difference that this hospital brings to the entire globe,
it really sealed the partnership and I was fortunate enough to be a part of some of those initial meetings to help structure and then of course Cora Beth and I have continued to support St.
Jude since that time. I know what events there's so many questions I have because this is like a moment in time in history that you know now we look back and look what's happened the impact of all of it and I And I know try to believe we're talking to St.
Jude, but this this event that you did where you were able to raise so much money sort of like I think opened everyone's eyes to what might be possible. And thinking about it in terms of multiple chapters,
what was the event that you did that raised that sort of puts you on the map and raise that money. Well, it was called at the time frats at bat, they still do it at Mississippi State and they call it swinging for St.
Jude. It was a softball tournament. The funds were raised through sponsorship and really, you know, I mean, chapters across the country can pick a variety of events, but it was mostly just having a good plan,
having a goal, rallying the rest of our chapter to support that goal, and then every person doing their part to help achieve that goal. And it was a tremendous experience from a leadership perspective.
leadership perspective, it taught me a lot of things through that experience that have continued today. But also think one of the main things that it did for us was we were just collegians.
I mean, we were just 18, 19, 20 year old kids trying to do a good thing for the greater good. And when you put it in context of the late '90s where there was no social media And it was barely email and,
you know, we were, we were out there, we sold ads, counted the people, ads and put together a, we still have that book from 1998 where people would sell ads to their family members and they would say,
you know, congratulations, good luck with your tournament, softball tournament. And we also had the Greek community come together. This was not just a try to help thing at Mississippi State. The fraternities and sororities participated as they had teams.
So, you know, it was a Greek effort. I really think it was such a special moment in time. And Tridel just saw that and said, you know, and St. Jude, hey, if St. Jude really recognized it and said,
hey, if one chapter can do something this significant. And listen, back in the day, let's talk perspective, $40 ,000 in 1998 was a lot of money. And I know our chapter is now raising over,
you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of them. It's just was an awesome thing back then especially. We didn't know how great we would turn out, honestly. What we did know,
though, was how important St. Jude was and is and continues to be and what a difference maker in the cancer community. So it was a perfect fit when you understood why the partnership was important because it's St.
Jude, if you don't know, freely shares their protocols. So all of that leading research, they research some of the rarest cancers, right? Childhood cancers, but that actually has a global impact in the entire cancer community.
And so just because it's in Memphis, it is a local hospital because it's a global hospital. And so it's a perfect partnership. There were a lot of chapters across the country that didn't have a local hospital to support not just at the collegiate level,
but also at the alum level. So it was really just a golden opportunity and made so much sense. And, and now look what it's done. Yeah, I have to, I have to bring your moment full circle.
I was recently in a conversation with the Sigma Chi who's on the board at Sigma Chi. And they are building a partnership with a cancer research facility, and he told me they are trying to model this after we try to do the research.
So, however many years later, 25 years later, here we are, and they're watching us. So you definitely had the impact you wanted to have, and we all know that the partnership has become just,
it's taken on a life of its own, and I think 'cause it does have that impact to involve Tri Deltas from all over the globe. Everybody feels a part of it,
wants to be a part of it, and the mission is so critical. - And part of that experience to, she won't really brag on herself, but St. Jude took note and recognized me separately from the Batomy chapter.
We took that check up there. We're in one of those pictures that Tri Delta has. It's our, you know, we're in red t -shirts. That's us. That was the start in the beginning of the, this whole partnership thing.
But Meade was recognized in 1999 by St. Jude as the Young Volunteer of the Year Award, Jerry Nicholson Award. And I didn't know if you were aware of that, but that's a really big deal. They flew to Memphis,
our family. We sat with one of the celebrities they were recognizing, the entire Danny Thomas family, Thomas family gave her an award and recognized her.
I guess that was 2000 at that point in the year 2000. That's really why I wanted to tell this story because it was so fundamental to where we are today.
And I'll say thank you for that. And I think it's important for people to hear the story. Thank you. And we really appreciate that. For us, you know,
it's always been important to recognize the Beta Mu chapter at Mississippi State, the collective effort that, you know, was a part of this. And also just the fact that these,
you know, again, these are just young kids and the power of one person. It's okay to be the first domino to have a big idea. Whatever job you're given Tri Delta,
do the best you can at that job. And you just never know the fruit that that's gonna yield. It just continues to yield so much fruit. - I'd love to hear you guys reflect on,
I think both of you had officer positions in the chapter. What kind of leadership skills did you, I mean, from that experience and from your experience in the try Delta chapter, what did you take with you? What has it done for you moving forward in your life?
- I'll kick that off. My freshman year at State, I don't know why, I was the one chosen, but I became the Panhellenic Delegate. I'm not sure what it's called today, but back then you were usually a junior or senior when you had that role.
And I took it on as a freshman, brand new to the Tri Delta chapter, and it was also the same year that Mississippi State hosted the Southeastern Panhellenic Conference. So I went in with the other Greek sororities and we went to Atlanta and put on a huge conference,
the Southeastern Panhellenic Conference. And so right there, just right out the gate, we had a great leader. She was a Tri Delta, Angel Brown. I'm not sure what her current married name is,
but she was leading the Greek community at Mississippi State. And we went to Atlanta and put this big conference on and man just right there right out the gate meeting on a national level you know taught me a lot of things and she was a great leader to get that kicked off for me and then I went on to be the recruitment chair at some point and led the chapter in a great what was called rush back then great
recruitment still those girls today have just blown me away with all the success in life that who they become as young women now you know adults. So you know both of us have gone on to I think be successful in our careers.
Meade is an attorney and I've leading an insurance just launched an insurance company at captive in the Cayman Islands and we're doing big things in our in our lives professionally but what Tri Delta gave back to us or gave back to me was just the sense of ownership in a lot of things,
leading the way for whatever we do in life. And not just those officer positions, but just, man, that was one of the best times in my life. And I think all my sorority sisters would say the same thing.
And when we get back together, it is just like we pick up right where we left off. It was just really special. There's no way to describe it unless you've done it. And we've done it and we love it and we're-- and we're still doing it.
- Try to help until the day we die. - Yeah, so I would say very similarly, having the opportunity to lead the chapter, set the tone for how to create something from nothing,
to take a concept to completion. You know, we, at the time, there wasn't philanthropy day. We were just starting that Angel Brown helped bring that concept to the recruitment process where it had a standalone day.
That happened while we were there. We did not have that when we went through our recruitment, but by the time we graduated, that was an instrumental part and was happening across the nation. So there was this wave of philanthropy that was happening,
and that's exactly why there was a dedicated focus and the position of philanthropy chair got elevated to almost sort of an executive level on par with, you know,
some of the other top opportunities within the chapter. So, you know, another thing that I think is super interesting is we didn't realize it at the time,
but looking back, this became an issue of gender equality, right? Gender parity, where here are sororities who are making change at sort of a business level,
right? This is a national conversation. These are business relationships. And I still utilize a lot of those skills in leadership, right? In coordinating attorneys across our nine offices in the nation and being able to sell a concept to a client or communicate effectively to reach a result.
So certainly those opportunities go back to my experience at Beta Mu. - Love, that is probably one of the most powerful testimonies I've heard around like how you take your Tri Delta experience and use it in your career,
use it later in life. So thanks for sharing all of that. You guys have talked about this power of one concept. - I'd love for y 'all to share that with our listeners.
- You know, one time we went back to help out with recruitment and they asked us to speak about our experience very similar to this and that was something that sort of just bubbled up for me and bubbled out in talking to the then chapter,
which is be the first domino. You know, it's okay. It's all right to be the person who comes up with an idea and something that's never been done.
You know, think outside of the box. Take your opportunities to the next level. I also think that it's okay to get in line as domino, right? It takes the group to accomplish.
No one person can do it, but you can see that, you know, it has to start somewhere and it might as well start with you and it might as well start in your collegiate experience so take advantage of those opportunities wherever you are in the nation.
I love that. I think young women in the chapters now will hear that and I mean I just think that's a powerful message for them and for anyone in life wherever you are whatever ideas you have wherever you want to move forward.
I love your passion around that. Always be your best, always be your best at whatever task you're given. We weren't necessarily thinking we were going to be a philanthropy chair or a Panhellenic delegate and those in some cases were not the officer's,
officer positions that everyone wanted. Everybody always wanted to be the president of their chapter or the whatever. But taking but taking what you have and running your race, you be the one to lead the way.
And both of us have definitely benefited from our experience in Tri Delta. Also, outside of our careers, we both have fundraised, not just for St. Jude, but been heavily involved in fundraising,
well, for Tri Delta, for the housing project, which is a whole 'nother topic, but also for the American Cancer Society. Our mother was diagnosed with-- - I was gonna ask you to share-- - Yeah,
so right after September comes October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and our mother was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer stage four in 2012. She has since passed on,
but her legacy lives on through us and through the work that we've done in raising funds for the American Cancer Society, And we have just recently, we've launched it.
I guess we can announce it to the world now. - Hey, this is it. This is the formal announcement. - This is the launch. - Breaking news. - It is called Flamingo Day Foundation. And Meade,
you can talk a little bit about it, but Mother loved the beach, Orange Beach, where we are. We just happened to be together, which is kind of unusual. 'Cause we're both busy, busy, busy.
But the Flamingo, Our foundation is going to raise money to try to find other resources to bring new drugs into the metastatic cancer space.
Ultimately, we really just want to find a cure. So we've got a whole lot with it, but we will now meet working on a documentary. I'm just going to tie into that.
You want to talk about that really quickly? Yes, I'm doing another concept of creation and something I've not done before, but I'm fearlessly going headfirst with it,
but I'm actually producing a documentary I've written and directed it and it's in the edit process. In the film it's called "Inflammingo," it's one word, it's a combination of two words,
inflammatory and flamingo. Our mother, it tells the story of our mother's life perspective in the face of inflammatory breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is one of the rarest.
It is at least researched. It is deadliest. It is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. There's no early detection. It does not show up on a mammogram and it doesn't really present as a lump.
It presents as a rash. And most women, like my mother didn't know about it. Our mother. Our mother. Correct. Our mother. So yes,
so this film is dedicated to teaching others about the power of perspective no matter your life circumstances.
Mother used to say have a flamingo day. So that's the flamingo part of this. So we'll unpack that And then it will also teach you about inflammatory breast cancer.
I have interviewed half of the nation's specialists, which by the way, that's less than 20, but I've got them at some of the leading institutions across the nation to talk about how different and unique this cancer is.
And I'm telling you, if we can fund a I'm going to pause you for cancer. It's going to benefit other cancers.
I'm going to pause you for just a second because I think we cut out a little bit. Can you start with if we can fund a cure? Yes.
Okay. You ready? Yeah. Okay. If we can find a cure or inflammatory breast cancer, I can guarantee you,
because the doctors have said this, that that research is going to impact other cancers. We're talking about something that while it's rare,
it is super important that we highlight, focus, fundraise, and find a cure for inflammatory breast cancer to help others with metastatic disease and cancer in general.
Wow. I mean you two are we get excited. We're not we're not settling for something. I mean you shouldn't and I mean I think we've seen what St.
Jude does when it comes to cancer and the way like they have cure rates like they have progress they can show or they have made an impact and then they share that out and they make sure everyone in the world can take that research and use it to save lives.
It's not a concept you see everywhere, but it's hugely impactful. And I think hearing you talk, I mean, first of all, you can hear your passion and know where that comes from. You've got a personal connection to this.
But the way you go about it and the creativity you bring to it and the passion you bring to it, I think just makes everybody want to get on board and, you know, run down the road with you. So all the best in the effort.
And I love that you're, that you're down this road and that you're, you know, a champion for women. And yeah, you know, we lived a very long life with our mother before she was diagnosed.
She was in her early sixties. And I want to tie something back to St. Jude. That's really important for me to say on this Zoom is while we were celebrating the 100 million mark just a few months ago,
we met with one of our sorority sisters. She was my little sister, March Gates. And her son, she told us the news while we were there. It was almost 18 years old,
Gator, Gates Milms. He was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer and he is treating it St. Jude. So talk about complete circle. This is my sorority sister from 20 plus years ago.
Her pledge sister, my little sister, sorority sister, and now her son is treating it St. Jude. You never know what is gonna happen to you in life and you know you just to think about the whole thing.
I mean there's still the story's not finished right? We're still going. I mean, we're gonna continue to raise money for St. Jude. I don't know what the next milestone number's gonna be or the milestone year's gonna be,
but man, how awesome to think it started so small, just you never know what impact you can make in life. - And thank God that St. Jude is focused on these rare cancers.
And to your point, Mindy, those cancers start out as rare and then they find these treatments, and they don't become rare anymore. Somebody's got to care. Somebody's got to say,
I'm committed to this, and we are grateful that they're treating Gates and, you know, prayerful that he will respond well and live a long life, but I could tell you think this,
that March Gates has been a supporter of St. Jude since the late '90s back at Beta Mu, Mississippi State, and frankly, her whole life. And So, you know, she's got one more story to tell.
Here's yet another example of the reason that we support this organization. Yeah, there's so many connections. And I think, you know, it's assumed that all of our collegiate chapters are out there doing all of this fundraising,
but we actually do have a lot of alumni who raise money for St. Jude as well. And Cora Beth, I know you've been involved with some of that. Why don't you talk a little bit about how alumnae chapters or alumnae members are sort of stepping into the St.
Jude. - Yeah, I think alumni are giving money to St. Jude. I've always wondered if it was being recognized though, you know, if we could see how it was, Tri Delta could see the money that was coming in.
So I think it's important to find a way for Tri Delta to find a way to include the alums in this fundraising effort. So some of the things that I've done in the last decade As I plan these reunions,
40th, 45th, 50th at Mississippi State and brought everyone back together. Our chapter was relatively young, started in 1972. And so one of the components of our events were fundraising for St.
Jude. I would always have someone come from St. Jude for us to give them a check. So I think back in college you don't have as much money as you potentially do now as an adult working adult.
And so there's a lot of opportunities I think with our alumni to to bring that full circle and to hit our hit our mark. I hope that try to make this a real part of this new campaign that we just announced to bring the alumni and maybe the alumni have a role of helping raise 10 million out of that.
What's our goal 20 what was it our new goal is to raise a hundred million okay hundred million well maybe we're maybe we're half of that you know i mean to put the call out there i'm going to put it out there right now let's step it up ladies we can do it put it out there um yeah i want to hear from both of you i mean you've so much going on i think we know that i always ask the in these podcasts.
Like what's next for you? Obviously, you know, me is like, well, I'm doing a movie. What do you mean? What's next? But is there anything else coming up that you guys want to share about where you're headed or things going on?
Right now, that is the primary focus. And we are officially, we were going to launch the Flamingo Day Foundation publicly October 1st. That's now happening on the Tri Delta podcast.
So that's super exciting. You know, I think we would love to grow this community of folks of like -minded folks and tap into our try to sisterhood to support us in this.
Support the film, support the foundation. So you can do that by following Inflammingo, that's two M's, I -N -F -L -A -M -M -I -N -G -O on social media and you know Imflammingo .com we're going to launch that probably October 1st as well and help us you know get the word out there just just being present with with that I mean this is a these are life missions right Tri Delta is a life mission St.
Jude is a life mission and now the Flamingo Day Foundation is a life mission in a lot of ways these things chose us. We didn't choose these things. We just we just made the most of the opportunities that were presented to us.
So yeah, it will always be grateful and always give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the role that each of these organizations have played in our lives personally.
We carry it, you know, in the bonds as they say. I echo that sentiment and I just want to thank you again for allowing us to share the story about how the partnership truly originated.
Just one small chapter in Starkville, Mississippi, you know, that's be the first domino. Thank you for that opportunity today. You know, it's such a powerful network.
And I love how you talk about we we have to support each other. We have to help lift all of our our sisters up and whatever they're doing and connect them and support them and it's a huge part of I think the experience that Tri Delta So I appreciate that you called that out and thanks for your support on a number of fronts Um,
I have loved talking to you today. You guys are the epitome of brave, bold and kind women So, um, thank you for that. We're glad to have you and our sisterhood and so glad to have you share your story With everybody here.
So thanks for joining us. Thank you. Have a flamingo day. Have a flamingo day. I love it. Well I'm so glad everybody got to hear from Cora Beth and Meade what great inspiration they are.
I love hearing their story and where they're headed. I don't think there's anything these two women can't do, can't accomplish. As they mentioned, Tri Delta has had a great celebratory year around St. Jude. We hit the $100 million mark over the summer and made a new commitment to raise additional money for St.
Jude by 2038 by Tri Delta’s 150th anniversary, another big milestone. But it's been an incredible 25-year partnership and so much so that they have named Tri Delta their official partner of kindness,
which I love moving forward. Today we are St. Jude's official partner of kindness. The walk runs coming up. I hope everybody is out there supporting St. Jude during this childhood cancer Awareness Month,
I hope you'll make a donation. You can drop into Tri Delta.org and make your donation, and that way Tri Delta gets credit for that Tri Delta donation to St. Jude. So we hope you'll do that. We love having you listen to our podcast.
We hope you'll rate, subscribe, and like the podcast. We have three stars in our crescent, but we love those five-star ratings, so bring 'em on. Thanks for joining us, everyone, today. Until next time,
Delta Love.