Kappa Delta Sorority will go “green” in the month of March in an effort to raise awareness of child abuse and raise funds for the prevention of child abuse.

The Troy University sorority will host the Shamrock 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run on March 3.

The Shamrock Event will be held on Sorority Hill at the Kappa Delta house. It will begin at 8 a.m. The registration fee is $20 for Troy University students and faculty, $25 for the general public and $8 for runners under the age of 10. The entry fee includes a T-shirt and breakfast the day of the event.

Eighty percent of the proceeds will benefit the Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center in Troy.

The remaining 20 percent will go to Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America), for nationwide public awareness programs. PCA America is the sorority’s national philanthropy

“We will join thousands of Kappa Deltas across the country in the fundraiser to benefit local affiliates and chapters of PCA America, said Julie Murphy, vice president community service, Kappa Delta Sorority.

“We have high expectations for this year’s event. We are really hoping to get the community more involved.

“In the end, they could be helping abused children that are sitting next to their own children in class.”

Murphy said that, according to recent PCA America statistics, the number of children abused or neglected in the United States grew by 33 percent and reached 3,244,000 in the last decade.

Confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect were estimated at more than one million in 1999.

Three children die each day from abuse or neglect in the United States.

Kappa Delta Sorority was founded in 1897 and began supporting PCA America in 1981.

The nationwide Shamrock Event began in 1983.  More than $6 million has been raised through these events to benefit child abuse prevention efforts across the country.

For more information, contact Christy Jones at 334-268-8764.