Help our TEP housemom Tracy!

TL/DR: Tracy needs our help. Please consider donating any amount that you're able to. You'd truly be helping a good soul in her hour of need -- after navigating some serious health issues, she's facing the real possibility of losing her home. Full details below.

Hi - my name is RJ Pickens, and I am an alum brother of Tau Epsilon Phi, pledge class of 2000, Psi Chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Some of you who came before me may not know me, and many of you will remember me from our time together at 105 E Armory Ave (and that's a lot of you since I took several victory laps before finally leaving campus).

However, I'm writing to you all today regarding Tracy Richey (or Tracy Dodge, or Tracy Myers - depending on when you were a student at U of I). For a long stretch of years, she was a huge part of our daily life at the TEP house. She'd not only cook all our meals but also served us as a mother figure, a trusted friend and confidant, a counselor, an advisor, and sometimes even as an accomplice. During our pledgeship, we all learned about Andy -- a house cook who really became part of everyone's day-to-day life in historically earlier years of Psi Chapter. He was so much more than just a cook to everyone -- he was a glue that helped keep things together and helped everyone in ways that went above and beyond his job title. Thus, he was awarded an associate Psi membership and forever became a part of the house's history. Like Andy, Tracy followed suit in her involvement in the house, ultimately being awarded an associate Psi induction (complete with induction ceremony in the Portals and a T-E-Phi sweatshirt with nickname "LUNCHLADY" on the back)!

Like all of you fellow brothers, I have loads of memories of all kinds from my time at U of I, and not only would my time there not have been the same without her but there are also times when her advice, guidance, assistance and friendship were things I will be forever grateful for.

This COVID-19 pandemic has certainly affected us all in some way, shape or form -- some of us more drastically than others. In this case, I feel a responsibility to inform you that it's turned Tracy's world upside down. After relatively recent bouts of both Covid and pancreatitis, she was laid up for months and had to learn how to walk and talk on her own again, as this nearly put her down for good. Despite overcoming these physical obstacles, Medicare and Social Security only go so far, and her hospital and outpatient medical care expenses have stacked up to the point where she's faced with the reality of losing her home of 27 years in Farmer City, IL.

I'm asking that you please consider helping her out here, and since she probably wouldn't do this herself, I'm spearheading this operation in gift-giving for her. If you can contribute a small amount, that's very much appreciated -- anything and everything helps here. But if you can make a sizeable contribution in helping this lady who went above and beyond for us when we were just foolish young men, this is genuinely a time when it will make a big difference in the trajectory life takes for her.

To all of you eternal friendship.