Alumni Brothers,
First off I would like to say Happy New Year to you and your families. As we enter into 2015, I couldn’t be more proud of our Theta Chi Chapter at Chico State. The amount of progress we have made over the past 10 years has been tremendous. Currently our chapter has around 70 active members, which is the largest on campus. We also now have the best fraternity house on campus thanks to Alumni support and the hard work of the Alumni Board in securing two very sizable loans through our National chapter.
What we’ve done
Seven years ago the Alumni Board of Directors (BOD) and Chapter embarked on a multi-phase project that included a renovation of the President’s Cottage, and a full upgrade to the Chapter House.
As some of you may remember, we were able to raise $20,000 in 2007 during our 25th Anniversary Alumni Event to remodel the cottage. With the help of Brothers Eric Sondeno and Jim Hull, we were able to completely remodel the cottage over the summer months. The next year, a new roof was installed on the Chapter House to address an immediate threat of water leaks into the house thanks to a generous donation of materials from Brother Brian Flournoy.
In 2009 we began the two-phased approach to remodeling the entire fraternity house. In the first phase, thanks to the tremendous efforts of Tom Hyatt and Jeremy Reither we were able to refinance the Chapter House’s existing mortgage of $176,000 while also securing a $194,743 loan to redesign and renovate the basement, foundation, and 1st floor of the house.
In 2013 we began the process of applying for an additional loan to refinance our existing mortgage and remodel the remainder of the house. It took the Alumni BOD a full year to complete the 110 page loan application, but in the end we succeeded in refinancing $300,000 of our mortgage and securing an $180,250 loan to remodel the second and third floor. I’m happy to report that as of August 2014, the House Remodel Project, led by Jeremy Reither and Thomas Hyatt, has been completed.
Pictures of the newly remodeled house can be found here:
What we need to do
None of this progress would have been possible without contributions from our outstanding Alumni members. I know many of you are homeowners and know the work is never truly done.
The basement is in need of weatherproofing and the cottage is due for serious maintenance. We cannot let all of the hard work that has gone into restoring the Chapter House go to waste. In addition to ongoing costs to the house, the Alumni BOD is working to setup a Foundation through the university to provide scholarships to deserving members. So brothers, I ask you, who’s ready to extend a helping hand?!! Below is how you can help in making our Chapter the strongest it’s ever been.
There are two ways to donate:
First, we are (re)introducing The 1981 Club. Membership is simple: commit to an automated monthly donation of $19.81 a month. This small monthly donation will go a long way in helping to cover the costs of maintaining the beautiful new Chapter House and support our vision of setting up a lasting Foundation. To setup a reoccurring account please visit the following link:
Second, if you do not want to setup a reoccurring account we are also asking for one-time donations that can be made through PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account you can set one up here: https://www.paypal.com/signup/account. Once you have setup an account you can either submit a payment to the alum.board@etaomega.org for any amount you wish. Or you can click on the link below.
We have come so far as a Chapter and the only way to continue to grow as a chapter is through alumni support. Thank you all for your continued support!! Good to be Theta Chi, better to be Eta Omega!!
Fraternally,
John Wenger
President, Eta Omega Alumni Board of Directors