A Killer Kitchen

Tim Samuels sent me the following pictures tonight. The kitchen is really starting to come together! Check it out:

August 21 Workday

Chad Sutkay, who currently serves on the Oak Society Board of Directors, sent the following E-Mail to Kappa Omega Alumni on Wednesday, August 18. We are looking for assistance from family, friends, alumni and brothers to assist with a Mini Workday on August 21, 2010. Here are the details:

I am pleased to report with all of the challenges associated with a project of this magnitude, we are progressing well on the renovation. This coming Saturday the 21st we will require all of the help we can get from 8am-12 noon! There are several inside and outside projects we need to get buttoned up prior to move in and PIKES House needs all the PIKES it can get for these 4 hours. We are almost there, I hope you can make the time to stop out to help!!

Projects are:

Interior Painting of new walls

Yard clean up/grass planting

General cleaning

Thank you for the support and sorry for the short notice!

- Chad

Parking at the Pike House

Tim Samuels sent the following pictures of our new parking lot. It looks like the parking spaces were painted, including the ADA compliant space that was constructed. Check it out!

A shot of the parking lot from the fence located on the north side of the property, looking towards McGraw Hall and Anderson Library on campus.

The ADA compliant parking space, located right by the ramp which leads to the front entrance of the house.

The new ramp which was constructed which allows the first floor of the property to be ADA compliant.

Video Tour as of August 6

Check out this video tour of the chapter house project as of August 6:

Fundraising Update

The projects underway at the chapter house come with a price tag. For those of you who are not familiar with the construction industry, you may find it surprising that the cost to dig a hole in the front yard for a pipe is $17,000. Or the cost to have a sprinkler system installed is about $16,000. And then you have things like upgraded electrical services which allows our facility to be conducive with safety codes, costing over $13,000.

These are just handful of the many projects that need to be completed by the start of the fall 2010 semester. The total price tag to complete all projects on schedule will come at a hefty $150,000 price tag. Rest assured - the Oak Society, Kappa Omega’s housing corporation, has been working aggressively to keep costs as low as possible. The mini workdays in June and July saved the chapter thousands of dollars in labor costs. Furthermore, the chapter is fortunate to have alumni who are connected to individuals working in construction vocations that benefit the projects we are trying to complete on time and within a budget.

The housing corporation began an aggressive fundraising campaign in March seeking to raise $36,000 in capital over the next year. Not only will these funds will be used to offset the cost of life safety projects already in progress, it will allow the chapter to further improve the living conditions in the house. Items such as kitchen appliances, exterior cosmetic improvements, additional common area space and luxury furnishings are NOT covered by loans that the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity is providing to the Oak Society to fund current projects.

I am happy to report that at this time the Oak Society has raised $10,238.66. We are almost a third of the way to our goal thanks to generous alumni who’ve laid a solid foundation for our fundraising efforts and set the course for the remainder of this campaign.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have a thousand dollars lying around waiting to be mailed to the Oak Society. That’s ok, because even a little bit of money can help us achieve our goal. The men of Kappa Omega have over 400 alumnus members. Imagine how much money we could raise if just a 100 of these alumni each donated $100 a piece? Although I may suck at math, I know 100 times 100 equals $10,000.

Ten thousand dollars would bump our overall fundraising efforts to over $20,000. Do you think we can do it? I think we can. In fact, I am so confident that we will get 100 alumni to donate $100; a few members of the Oak Society Board of Directors have volunteered to put our money where our mouth is. This weekend I will be posting a video of these individuals each making a $100 donation to the capital campaign.

Hopefully – 98 more of you will follow.

The Waterboy

Digging for gold? Not really. Rather, digging for a pipe. Tim Samuels sent me these pictures of contractors installing our new water main. As stated in a previous post, in order for the sprinkler system to function properly, a 4" water main had to be installed to replace the existing 2" main. The larger water main allows for the sprinkler system to fully charge in the unfortunate circumstance that there is a fire in the house.

Wondering how much the new water main cost? About $17,000. You can help us pay for it - we accept cash, check and soon we will be accepting Paypal donations online.

Chapter Excellence Award

I recently learned that the undergraduate chapter received a Chapter Excellence Award last week at the International Convention in Austin, TX. What follows is copy from an E-Mail that Justin Buck, Executive Vice President and CEO of Pi Kappa Alpha, sent to alumni on his contact list announcing this prestigious honor:

I am pleased to announce that Kappa Omega Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was recognized earlier today when chapter representatives were presented with the Raymond L. Orians Chapter Excellence Award during the opening session of the 2010 International Convention in Austin, Texas. This award recognizes outstanding achievement and overall excellence for 2009-2010 in several areas of operation. The Smythe Award winning chapters will be selected from among the Chapter Excellence Award winners. That announcement will be made on Saturday. I will keep you posted.

If you would like to send a message to chapter members, you can contact Kevin Delie at deliekm23@uww.edu.

Justin A. Buck
Executive Vice President & CEO
Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity
8347 West Range Cove
Memphis, TN 38125
901-748-1868
pikeinfo@pikes.org

Congratulations gentlemen - you make us proud!