The sisters of Delta Zeta have found a new and innovative way to raise money for their philanthropy through a non-profit organization called Quiet Love. The group held its first-ever performance at Ashland University Oct. 8.

Quiet Love “exists to creatively communicate the Gospel through dramatic interpretation of contemporary Christian music,” according to their official website. Such dramatic interpretation includes synchronizing sign language with the performances and the service.

Members perform in the dark under a black light. In this way, all that can be seen of the performers are what they use to connect with their audiences – their faces and their hands.

“We use a black light because people have to pay attention to it,” Nick Williams, the founder of The Quiet Love Foundation, said. “It’s dark, and the audience can’t be distracted by anything else in the room.”

Williams founded Quiet Love in December of 2004, when he began speaking at churches and talking about his life in hopes of inspiring others. Quiet Love has since grown to an entire group of individuals who wish to spread their faith.

“I was once a rich man living for the world, and I walked away from all of that to follow Christ,” Williams said. “Now, I’m the richest poor man you’ll ever meet.”

Ticket sales for Quiet Love helped to raise $359 for the House Ear Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing hearing science and improving the quality of life.

DZ president Tiffany Bartram was the inspiration behind bringing Quiet Love to Ashland University. She has witnessed their interpretive performances several times while working with Joy of Living Ministries in Brinkhaven, OH.

According to Bartram, she spent the summer trying to come up with new ways to raise money for their philanthropies.

Nationally, DZ supports several philanthropies, including the House Ear Institute, the Painted Turtle Camp, the Starkey Hearing Foundation and Galludet University. In addition to these national philanthropies, the DZ sisters support local philanthropies as well, including the Dale-Roy School and the Sertoma Club.

Because her sorority works to help the hearing and speech-impaired, Bartram immediately thought of Quiet Love as a possible program to support because they are a non-profit organization which uses sign language in its performances.

“It’s like with anything new,” Bartram said. “[The DZs] were apprehensive at first… to talk about people performing with sign language may not sound fun for us, but entertainment is hard for [the hearing and speech impaired] to find.”

The Friday night performance was attended by students, faculty and community members alike and was generally well-received.

“I thought everything went really great,” said Darnell Woods, a sophomore member of Tech Crew. “It was a different way to worship – very open, very diverse.”

“It was wonderful,” said Kim Boyd, a community member.

“I thought it was a really unique way to bring about the word of God . . . My eight-year-old daughter even had fun.”

Though uncertain at first, the sisters of Delta Zeta were just as optimistic about the event.

According to Bartram, “[Quiet Love] will definitely be coming back next year.”

For more information about Quiet Love, visit their website at www.quietlove.us.