2021 Alumni Support for Beta Gamma Chapter

FIRST, A GIANT THANK YOU TO LAST YEAR'S ALUMNI DONORS. 

 

These are the 46 Beta Gamma alums who responded to last year's call for alumni support.  We are truly grateful to each of them, and hope the house's tremendous showing during the past Covid year (in which the actives managed to add as many new members as they lost to graduation and attrition, thereby staying 65 guys strong) is evidence enough for you to share your generosity again this year.

 

William Amsbary; Eric Belusa; Robert Bernstein; Jim Blumel; Hernan Briggs; Preston Briggs; Jonathan Chase; Jim Christopoulos; Marc Daniels; Hoang Do; Dan Dougherty; Philip Elhai; Steve Elliott; John Fiero; Eric Frerer; Travis Gemoets; Braden Grindle; Jeff Harband; Bill Huff; Brian Katz; Mark Kawanami; Gregory J. Kodres; Alfredo Lagrosa; Jeffrey Lauber, MD; Sean Lee; Jeff Leopold; Scott Lorenz; John Ma; Jeremy Marcus; David McCarthy; Vincent Mendillo; Donald Meserve; Joe Monaco; John Nelson; Kevin Palm; Joseph Perez; Tamer Qafiti; Ronaldo Ramirez; Phillip Rodriguez;  Vinny Romano; Travis Sanchez; Jeff Schur; George Sarantinos; Valery Talma; Shane Waarbroek; and Christopher Zyda  

 

Clearly, the alumni have been very generous to us in the past, and we are hoping for a similarly enthusiastic response this year.  The initiatives for the Fall are: 

 

THE LLOYD KEVIN CHAPMAN FUND: Lloyd pledged the house in the Fall of 1978. His record of dedication and hard work (both while active and later as an alumni) is truly legendary. (He was a latter-day Chan Harris, if you ask me). And though he is no longer with us, the fund named for him continues to support the house and its brotherhood through good times and bad. Now, we are in good times. Still, in addition to providing actives with modest scholarships, our nearly 100 year-old house needs some work. Also, we need to outfit our dining room with tables, dishes and silverware, as this year marks the return of a chef in the kitchen. It's for tasks like that we draw from the Fund, and this is your chance to help augment it.

 

SENDING BETA GAMMA ACTIVES TO THE CONVENTION: For the first time in a very long time, National has brought the Convention to the West Coast. Many of our actives (and virtually all of the officers) have expressed an interest in attending. National has discounted their attendance below the regular student rate to $175 per person. We think there are at least 20 actives interested in attending the convention, so we are looking for as many multiples of $175 as we can raise.

 

DEFRAYING NEW MEMBER FEES.  Last year, the alumni donated more than $10,000 to help fund a Fall New Member Class Sponsorship Program.  Specifically, thanks to your generosity the ACB was able to fund the initiation fees charged by National for new members.  Thus, young men who wanted to join (we used to call them "rushees") were able to tell their family that they could join a fraternity without incurring any upfront costs. When all was said and done, the new member feedback to the chapter was that covering the initiation fees was a difference-maker in their decision to join the house.  Also, our own study of this program has shown it to be effective, with no retention issues because our guys are selective about who they invite to become a new member.  It costs $360 per person to sponsor a new member's initiation fees due to National.  

 

RECOMMENDED DONATION: $620

REQUESTED DONATION: $1,000, $500, $250, $100, or whatever you can share. 

 

We've put prior generosity to great use.  The house has survived Covid and there will be 22 men living in for the Fall.  We sponsored an amazing Sailor's Ball weekend and threw the first Alumni Sailor's Ball anyone can remember (that's coming back for 2022, so stay tuned).  We've got an Alumni Mentor Program that is unique on the Row.  We've got a house full of guys who know how to rush and have proven they can excel at it.  Finally, we've got a great leadership team among the house's executive board -- guys who lead by example like Lloyd did.  Let's do the same and help build the strongest Delta Sig house UCLA has seen in many decades.

 

THANK YOU. YITBOS!