Christian Bright: OUR NEIGHBORS | A new job became a new home for sorority house mom
Nov. 9—Deb Olson understands how precious her life is because of a continuing health struggle that once left her bedridden. Now she has found fulfillment as a sorority house mom.
Olson, 64, is house director of Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi) sorority on Sunset Avenue. Fraternities and sororities have house directors who assist with facility operations, commonly called house moms/mothers or house dads/fathers. Olson said she is primarily a property manager. The national or local board hires the directors.
"I'm hired by my local board, and so my job is to make sure that everything is up and running," she said. "If anything major goes on then, I need to communicate with my board. And then I also communicate with the vendors who fix it is whatever is broken."
Olson said she has always loved Manhattan. When she was younger, she remembers coming to Manhattan from Council Grove to shop on the weekends with her family. Olson studied education at Kansas State University but never completed her degree.
After leaving Manhattan, she spent 26 years in Olathe raising her children and working in banking until she developed chronic inflammatory response syndrome — a progressive condition caused by toxins like mold. The condition is notoriously difficult to diagnose. It can have many symptoms and affect many body systems. For Olson, it caused celiac disease, Hashimoto's, allergies and sensitivity to chemicals.
After she began experiencing symptoms, her life dramatically changed. She went from being healthy to being exhausted and bedridden.
"My safest place was at home in my bed, and I didn't have the energy to walk up and down the stairs," Olson said. "I barely could walk around the block, and some days, I couldn't do that."
Olson said she it was a long time before she was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory response syndrome. She was bedridden for three years. She said once diagnosed, she had to change her diet. She now follows a keto diet, which is high-fat and low-carb. She and her doctors discovered that mold was causing her condition. She moved out of her house and actually spent a month in a tent in her daughter's backyard to help her body detox. She also took charcoal everyday.
Those things alleviated her symptoms, allowing her to work again.
Olson was never a part of greek life while attending K-State. But after years of trying to figure out her health situation, she found that being a house mother is one of the jobs she can do.
"So I was disabled for years, and when I finally got well enough, I was looking around for a position that I could do and still maintain my health," Olson said.
The idea to work as a house director just popped into her head. She turned on notifications for online job boards for house director jobs, and Alpha Delta Pi was the first one available. That was all Olson needed; she said she fell in love with the old home and the members who fill its walls. "This absolutely felt right to me when I came here."
Her new job as a house director came with its challenges. Olson did not go into the position with confidence, and this is where the relationships with the members began to develop. Members in the house helped Olson while she adjusted to her new role.
"I had a really good group of women that year who welcomed me, and they actually showed me the ropes," she said. "I had never done this job before, I didn't know what was expected every day, that I was supposed to open the blinds every morning."
Now in her sixth year as Alpha Delta Pi house director, she develops strong relationships with members.
"I sit with the girls and talk with them and get to know them and make a point of learning their names and what they have going on in their lives," she said.
Alpha Delta Pi president Jordan Dombrowski shared how impactful Olson is for the members of Alpha Delta Pi.
"Mom Deb does everything she can to know who we are where we come from so she can make us all feel at home," Dombrowski said in an email. "(She) creates genuine relationships with each member by spending time eating meals with them, sitting in classes they also attend, and going to sisterhood events for the chapter."
Dombrowski said Olson spends time with members by baking with them, making study snacks at the end of the school semester, going to movies, and hiking the Konza.
Dombrowski described Olson as "compassionate, servant-hearted, and encouraging."
"Mom Deb is full of radiance and joy, constantly uplifting the spirits and hearts of others," she said.
As much as Olson has had an impact on the sorority members, they've also had an impact on her.
The house has been a refuge and home for Olson.
"The women here have loved me when I really needed it, and I can't ever thank them enough," she said. "They have given me a purpose."
