Women’s Empowerment, a fund raising organization, is working to expand its membership campus-wide this semester instead of restricting to Greek members.

The all-Greek women organization currently has 21 members. However, this semester, president Kristi Spray prompted the expansion in membership to get more people involved and raise more money.

“It’s a great resume builder,” Spray said Monday. “There is room for people to get involved.”

Spray has been a member of Women’s Empowerment for two years and this is her second semester as president. This year she presented the idea to other members, the “main hurdle” of the process, but she said members were “really for it.”

“I don’t like the fact that it’s just a Greek thing,” Spray said.

Now, Spray will begin paperwork, advertising and getting the word out to make Women’s Empowerment available to all women students, she said.

Spray feels more women would join because Women’s Empowerment focuses its donations on the Women Coalition of Coles County, which are women from the Charleston area.

“The main premise is to help the women who cannot help themselves,” Spray said. “It’s not a lot of time, but it makes you feel good about yourself.”

Women’s Empowerment holds bi-monthly meetings with members to discuss its fundraisers. The group puts together one fundraiser per semester to donate to the Coalition. For each fund raiser, the members go to Greek meetings and advertise for their cause.

Last semester, Women’s Empowerment raised $100 from collections at various Greek meetings. The organization then took that money and made baked goods that it sold for $320, which was then donated to the Coalition.

Spray was “pretty impressed” by the donation the group was able to make because it was the most money the group has raised in recent years.

In addition, about a third of the raised funds were used to make baked goods to be donated to the Coalition.

“It was awesome,” Spray said.

The group will meet Jan. 23 to begin work on a fund raiser for this semester through a toiletry drive. Spray said baskets will be put in residence halls and Greek houses for the collection of toiletry products.

The Women’s Coalition of Coles County is a safe house for women and children who have been abused physically, sexually or mentally. A place for support and a chance for women to “get on their feet and to get ready to live their lives,” Spray said.

“It’s for women who don’t have any other place to go,” Spray said. “To better themselves for the future.”

Women’s Empowerment has been holding fund raisers for approximately six or seven years, Norma Taylor, secretary for the student and Greek life office said.

“(Fund raising) makes you feel good about yourself because you are a woman,” Spray said.