Thanks to all who attended last weekend’s successful reunion. For those of you who could not make it, we had more than 50 brothers at our alumni association meeting and our reception at 611 College Avenue. It was surreal being at the house, seeing the same faces that we used to see, looking at the basement with NO BAR and the finished 3rd floor (with no black closets), and sharing stories from our past. At a minimum, I will try to get us permission to use the house every year at homecoming for a reception to keep the memories alive.
I also felt like I was in a time warp around 6 pm on Saturday when ZBT brothers commanded not only the porch on a sunny fall day, but overflowed onto the lawn, sidewalk and College Avenue to display our strength to the F&M community. Several other fraternity alumni mentioned to me that they were jealous of our very visible success and a few college officials told me that they were shocked at our numbers!
A short summary of the weekend:
· A good showing Friday night at Lancaster Dispensing Company with guys from the 80s and 90s getting to know each other and realizing that our traditions did survive. The highlight was probably Fred Greenhall up on the stage waxing poetic on the REAL story of Fred’s hole and the “house Fred”
· An Alumni Greek Council meeting on Saturday morning where the college made it clear that it is strongly pursuing a Greek housing project, likely a fraternity row (on either existing properties such as the 600 or 700 College Avenue blocks or on a new property across Harrisburg Pike), which would provide a housing opportunity for us and other dormant and existing chapters
· A successful kickoff meeting for our Alpha Tau Alumni Association. We will be incorporating soon, and while I have a good slate of people who volunteered to be “officers” if you too are interested, please let me know. After this year, we’ll have an annual meeting at homecoming. We also expect to have an operational website with pictures, event info, etc. soon
· The incredible reception at 611 College Avenue, with ZBT banners out in the forefront, and memorabilia brought by several brothers to share. We even had several brothers from the 50s and 60s stop by because they saw the crowd.
· Various groupings for dinner and drinks on Saturday evening at some of the old reliable places like Hildy’s and the Town Tavern
The F&M Administration, through President Fry, has embraced re-recognition and has candidly admitted that one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest, is $$$. I know that many or most of you still have bad feelings about the College due to the loss of our house and chapter, but you may be amazed in hearing that ZBT alums collectively gave more than ANY other fraternity this year except Chi Phi.
With this in mind, we can maximize our chances of success by doing a few things. First, we need to get our ZBT-AT Alumni Association treasury up and running. I believe we will have over $2000 in the kitty after monies raised last weekend, but I think we need to have some more – a $5000 or $10,000 fund would be better to give us money to pay F&M Greek alumni dues, to pay for a few more homecoming receptions, and to pay for a real website for a couple of years. As I expressed at our meeting, my incubator for this “experiment” runs out 3-5 years from now, since it may take that long before any realistic housing options mature. IF we raise enough money and do NOT spend it on alumni communications or events, any remaining balance if we have to raise a white flag in the future can be donated to F&M, to ZBT National, or to any other charities as the alumni may desire. We will provide a financial report to all of you soon, after the current wave of donations subsides.
While I understand that each of us has different means to draw from, if you have not done so already, I would ask each of you to do your best to contribute $100. If $100 is too much, then please contribute what you can. Please send all checks, PAYABLE TO “ALPHA TAU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION”, and addressed to Jay Ridder, ’91, who is serving as our Treasurer, at the following address:
Jay S. Ridder, CPA
Ernst & Young, LLP
Two Commerce Square
Suite 4000
2001 Market Square
Philadelphia, PA 19103
In addition, to show our strength to F&M and to increase our chances of returning Alpha Tau to F&M, I am urging you to please contribute to F&M. The amount is up to you. Contribute $10 or $100 or $1,000. The amount isn't that significant -- what is significant is our participation rate. If we can demonstrate our commitment towards the college as a unified front, we can certainly wield a bigger hammer with them in pushing for a house. ZBT-AT's participation rate was 38.8% in '04-'05 -- if we can exceed 60% then I believe we are making a significant statement to the college. You can make your contribution online at: https://secure.fandm.edu/give/. Make sure to note that you are a ZBT brother on your donation information.
Finally, keep your interest alive and let me know if you are willing to help in any way. Next year will be our chapter’s 75th anniversary. I would like to have a special event at homecoming which (if possible) will top this year’s reunion. Planning will start soon and I welcome your input and assistance.
I would also like to have a “class representative” from each graduating class to act as the liaison with others in their class, so please advise if you are willing to serve. I already have reps from 84, 88, 91, 92, 93, 95 and 03.
Hopefully, within the next couple of weeks, our website will be up and running with photos, alumni contact information and other stuff. We will likely use that in the future to post information, but I will remain available to all of you if you have questions in the meantime.
Thanks again for your help, interest and support, and go Yankees!!!!!!
C, F, & S
Tony
