I hope this note finds you and your families doing well.  I just wanted to send a brief update on the Chapter as we near the end of the Spring semester.

Membership

Last weekend we initiated four new Brothers into the Bonds.

    Dan Watkins - BZ848
    John Mark 'Van' Norris - BZ849
    Matt Burgess - BZ850
    Jarrod Deerman - BZ851

For those of you that are their 'Century Brothers', I think they fully expect a token of your affection this Fall.  Probably in the form of 24 cans of your favorite frosty beverage.

Unfortunately, due to the current economic times we will lose a few guys this summer.  Several of our current actives are leaving Auburn and will attend schools in their home states to relieve some of the stress of non-resident tuition.  However, we should go into the Fall with approximately 26 guys returning next year and a couple that may return after being gone this Spring.

House

Most of you have heard, but we have approved the Chapter to re-occupy 835 W. Magnolia this Fall.  We will take possession of the house sometime this summer and will have quite a bit of work to do in order to get it back up to BZ's standard.  A lot of cleaning, painting and other projects will have to happen quickly to get our guys moved in and the remains of Kappa Sig washed away.

We will have approximately 14 guys moving back in the house and they are very, very excited to have an actual home for our operations and events.  Please keep your eyes open for future emails calling for 'all hands on deck' when we schedule our work parties for this summer.  We will utilize all available donations of labor, money, tools and/or materials to get the place ready.

Rush

The guys are currently putting together their calendar of events for the summer rush parties.  You will see more communication in advance of these events, but all alumni are welcome to attend.  Depending on the event (and in most cases), alumni are encouraged to bring spouses or dates.  And, as always, alumni are very much encouraged to bring prospective members. 

If you have any potentials that you would like the Rush Chairmen to contact, please send them to our co-Rush Chairs (and copy me):

    Andrew Smith - (afs0...@auburn.edu / (256) 283-6745)

    Harrison Lee (hhl0...@auburn.edu / (205) 305-8105)

Operations

As you can imagine, our operations will change as we move back into the house.  The budget that we operated with over the past two years will change drastically.  We are currently working with the officers to begin to anticipate some of the changes that come with the house.  Over the next few months and into next year, we will have a lot of work to do to make sure they are fully aware of the issues that surround their new residence.  Things like Risk Management will be critical to manage properly to avoid a catastrophe. 

As we work on this 'educational' process, some of you may be called on to lend your expertise and experience in this process.  I hope you can make yourself available to assist if needed.

And the fun stuff...our 'Reoccupation Party'

As many of you have read or heard, we are planning a party on Labor Day weekend to celebrate the reoccupation of the house.  The guys will have already celebrated a couple weekends in the house by then, but Labor Day weekend is the first football game and a logical time to invite alumni, family and friends back to the house to celebrate with them.

The alumni are funding the party on Saturday, September 5th with a band, cookout/tailgate and plenty of fun.  We need donations to make this happen.  If you can spare a few dollars, please go to http://www.bzonline.org/contribute.php and designate 'Labor Day party' for your donation.  While you are there, go ahead and set up an automatic donation if you are able.  Any money leftover after the party will also go toward house improvements and/or rush.

As the party gets closer, we will send out a little more information.  I hope you all can find time to stop by and visit the house again.  It should be a very fun weekend.

Thank you to all that have helped in various ways over the past couple of years.  As always, please let me know if I can do anything for you.

Yours in the Bonds,

Mike Stover, BZ 690
Chapter Advisor
Beta Zeta Association Secretary