Much Needed Fraternity House Remodel Underway

If you have been by 5th and Ivy in Chico recently you may have seen the boards on the windows of the house, and maybe you noticed that some interior walls and whatnot were missing. No, the house is not condemned – we’re actually doing a remodel. We submitted a ’successful’ loan application to National this year – and after a bunch of back and forth, dotting i’s and crossing t’s, we wer approved for a ~$470,000 loan (some of which is being used to remodel the 1st floor and make life safety improvements).

Slideshow of photos from “work in progress”:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reither/sets/72157621963800052/show/

Check back for more pics as the work progresses. The house will be ready for move-in by August 15, but finishing work will continue into the fall semester…so it’ll be a little while before it’s all polished.

This is how we’re using the funds:

• Payoff existing 11% mortgage (yes, 11%) from Gary Foster and 5th & Ivy Partners: ~$175,000
• Life safety repairs (including foundation leveling, new doors & locks, sprinklers, fire alarms, rain gutters, etc.): ~$65,000
• Remodel 1st Floor interior and some exterior (including full kitchen, functional living room, real dining room (red and white room), new windows and doors, remodel 1st floor bedrooms and bathrooms and (this is pretty cool) extending the main staircase to the basement: ~$230,000

Here’s the catch: we obviously have to pay this money back…it’s a loan, not a grant. Overall our monthly expenses will go up about 50%…so we raised dues and rent accordingly for the chapter this year so that we (they) can afford the new higher loan payments.

Why remodel only the interior of the 1st floor?

Because (1) tht is the area that needed the most love and (2) this loan wouldn’t afford us much more than that. The plan is to start a fundraising campaign and raise enough from alumni to cover a some of the rest of the work on the 2nd floor, attic, basement, and exterior. It may be a 2- or 3-phase project when it’s all said and done…but the plan is to re-do the whole house within the next 5 years. We are relying heavily on alumni donations to help us fund phase 2 of the remodel – hopefully to start in or around 2012: Donations Appreciated

Props:

There are a lot of guys that deserve credit for getting this loan approved, organizing the contractors, and just generally seeing this project through, but the one guy who stuck it out when the alumni board was losing steam, held things together, assembled a new board, and continues to donate time and effort to the cause is Tom Hyatt. No way would this be happening without him. Big thanks to Jereme Grinslade of Theta Chi’s Norwich Housing Board and the guys at Chico Home Improvement as well.

Recap of 2008-2009 School Year From the New Chapter Exec

Dear Alumni of Eta Omega and Theta Chi Brothers,

This past year, and especially the Spring semester, have been outstanding times for Eta Omega. Over the course of the year Theta Chi placed first in the campus-wide Greek Week philanthropy/competition, raised hundreds of dollars for hurricane victims, won the football championship, and most importantly increased chapter membership by 29 initiates! In the Fall semester alone we recruited 19 new men, setting us up to retain the ‘top house’ position on campus for the ‘09-’10 academic year. In addition to these achievements Eta Omega has worked to become debt-free, paying off all amounts owed to the National Fraternity, and is working toward obtaining a new loan for a major house re-model.

A new executive board has been elected as well, consisting of Dustin Pesch as President, Joey Combs and Andrew Chalmers as Internal and External Vice Presidents, respectively, Ex-President Adam Shea as Treasurer, and Blayne Davis as Secretary. The new Executive Board and the chapter are committed to improving brotherhood and participation, and taking any necessary steps to obtain a loan to continue to improve our standing in the eyes of potential new members, the campus community, and the National Fraternity.

This upcoming year will boast as many if not more achievements as last year, and will be exciting for everyone involved – both active and alumni.

Cheers,

Andrew Chalmers
External Vice President
Theta Chi, Eta Omega Chapter

Chico Greek Alumni Weekend – May 2, 2009

Don’t forget alumni weekend is coming up. This one is being organized by alumni, for alumni. It’s all-Greek, so you’re bound to see some familiar faces. More event details on the ‘Events’ page: http://www.etaomega.org/events/

Chico Greek Week 2008: Theta Chi Talent Show

Spring 2009 Rush Shirt – The Year of the OX

The undergrads play on the Chinese New Year (“Year of the OX”) theme for their rush shirts.

Click the image to view it full size…

Need Alumni Volunteers for Mid-Year Alumni Conference in Stockton

The Mid-Year Alumni Conference is being held in Stockton on February 21. It’s a half-day event that involves round-table style discussion with other alumni (of all ages) from all Nor Cal chapters.

We need one or two volunteers to go! As soon as we get a volunteer we’ll update this page and let you know. Right now we’re still looking.

If you can spare a few hours of your Saturday, please…

Register to Attend

We’ll even reimburse your $20 registration fee. Just contact us to let us know you registered.

Chico Updates from the Alum VP

Eta Omega Chapter President, Adam Shea and Andrew Chalmers attend the 15th Annual B. Nelson Deranian Presidents Conference (DPC) for chapter, colony, and interest group leaders will in Indianapolis. Their flights apparently sucked but they had a good time anyway (even though they couldn’t find any Alpha Phi’s to party with).

When it was all said and done, they both learned many new best practices that help create and maintain successful chapters across the nation. Andrew later said, “I was fortunate enough to see Jereme Grinsdale at the goodbye dinner … he is excited to see what we have in store and he touched on what the chapter also needs to be on track for to be considered for the loan… GRADES.  Last semester we were above our required average for the school and our pledge class had the highest GPA among the other fraternities.” Keep those grades in check gentleman!

The Chico State campus has had some recent news as well:

• Chico will honor Charles Darwin’s 200^th birthday by organizing a series of events, film showings, lectures, and nature hikes.
• For the second year in a row, CSU, Chico is the top collegiate fund-raiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., with a total of $183,561 raised during 2007-2008, with records for the number of volunteers, 2,021-and the number of letters sent out requesting support, more than 37,000.
• Chico State’s Career Center, Best in the West! A 2007 survey of recruiters rated 70 percent of Chico State students Outstanding or Above Average compared to students at other universities. Over 83 percent rated our Career Center operations as either Outstanding or Above Average.
• Forbes Magazine ranked CSU, Chico 24th in the nation among all public universities for the median salaries of its graduates, based on a 2008 study by PayScale.com, which looked at the earnings of college graduates with 10-20 years of work experience.
• New student Rec and exercise center to open Spring 2009.

So do kids still go to the flumes, or tube down the river, or sneak into Dime Bag Willie’s house…?

Willie Shoffner
Alumni Board / Vice President

January 2009 Alumni Newsletter

You should have received a copy of this e-mail newsletter on 1/30/2009. If not it means we don’t have your current e-mail address – so send it to us and get on the mailing list for future newsletters.

Eta Omega Alumni Update – Jan 2009

We’re Going Big 

Here it is – your annual e-newsletter, with updates from all the key players in the Eta Omega Alumni Board, the Active Exec, and “members at large.” Catch up on 2008, then tune in and chip in for a huge 2009. Read more

26th Annual Giants Game: May 16

You should have gotten the E-vite by now [there's also an event on the Eta Omega Facebook group], but just in case you didn’t get either, here are the details… Read more

Send Us Your Updates for the 2009 Alumni e-Newsletter

Brothers,Its time to put together Eta Omega’s annual e-Newsletter, so I need bro updates…

Here’s the deal…if you are in any position where you market your company this is the time to do so. If you started a company or own your business this is the time to let people know. If you just had kid, got married, divorced, or know someone that did let me know. The newsletter is a great way to get your new business seen and let old friends hear about how life’s going.

I know the majority of my business and the people I do business with are bros or referrals from brothers. Don’t let a chance for free marketing pass you by! I need updates by Wednesday the 28th. Send me the dirt!!!!

Send an email to chris[at]bodeninsurance[dot]com

Thanks,
Chris Boden