Paragon
March 2023
This
Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni LinkedIn Group
Class of 57/60/61/62 Fundraiser Update
Insurance Audit and Remediation
Upcoming Events
Friday, April 21 - Initiation
Saturday, April 22 - Work Weekend
Sunday, April 23 - Work Weekend
Saturday, April 29 - Founder's Day
A Message from the Alumni Board President
Brothers,
Sometime this summer we will hit the 2-year anniversary of our new iteration of the Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association. With this milestone approaching, I am proud to report that we continue to gain momentum for our efforts to build a self-sustaining alumni association for our chapter.
Later in this edition of the Paragon, you can read about how our Housing Committee completed an enormous amount of work to remediate numerous issues with the chapter house identified by our property insurance carrier. As always, my thanks go out to the members of the Housing Committee, led by chairman Pat Glynn, for their hard work and commitment to maintaining and improving our chapter house.
The work that was done to correct the concerns raised by our insurance carrier so that we could maintain our insurance coverage was only possible because of the generosity of the donors who have supported our efforts in the past. Our future efforts were greatly aided by a generous pledge by members of the classes of 1957, 1960, 1961 and 1962 to match all donations in February up to $3000. I’m pleased to announce that we received more than $3000 in donations in February, thereby making the full match available for future work on the house. Please see the list of donors as well as those who contributed the matching funds below.
I would also like to extend a welcome to our newest alumnus, Riley Davis. Riley graduated from CWRU in December and is now serving on our active coaching committee. You can learn more about the efforts of the Coaching Committee in this issue. Thank you Riley, and congratulations!
Yours in the Bonds,
Nicholas DeCenzo
President, Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association
We’re also pleased to announce some upcoming events in April. Details will follow via the Paragon in early April, but please mark your calendars now!
The Long Walk will conclude with Initiation on Friday, April 21. Details will follow, but please plan to join us for this important event! As is tradition, our 8 associate members know about the Long Walk but believe Initiation will be on a later date. Please maintain the surprise if you see them.
Our first work weekend of 2023 is scheduled for Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23. Feel free to attend one day, both days, or whatever else fits your schedule that weekend.
The undergraduate coaching program is now in its second semester. The Coaching Committee guided the Active Executive Council through a training workshop to prepare them for the program and to set a vision for the semester. A huge thank you goes out to Riley Davis, Hsing Duan-Louh, Daniel Kessler, Aaron Mann, and Cassiel Yuzik for committing their time and energy to coaching an undergraduate leader.
The Coaching Committee is always open to alumni who want to bolster the learning and growth of our active Brothers. Besides leadership coaching, the committee is also planning events for career mentoring. Please contact Aaron Mann at aaronmann@ohioalphabeta.org if you would like to assist the Coaching Committee or if you would like to learn more about its efforts.
Having a LinkedIn profile has become such a significant part of the hiring process that many of our undergraduate brothers create a profile as freshmen. To leverage the knowledge and networks of the brothers of the Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter, we have created a LinkedIn group exclusively for initiates of our chapter. We'd greatly appreciate your support by joining the LinkedIn group associated with this account!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/phi-kappa-theta-ohab-474152259/
After following this account, keep an eye out for an invitation to the associated LinkedIn group!
In the January Paragon, members of the classes of 1957, 1960, 1961 and 1962 pledged $3000 to match every donation from January 26 through February 28, and our alumni delivered in force. We received more than $3,720 in donations from thirteen different brothers. Combined with the matching funds, that gives us $6,720 to use for ongoing work at the house. These funds will come in handy for our upcoming projects, and we will report what we did with them in an upcoming Paragon!
We thank the brothers whose generosity unlocked the full matching funds. We want to extend a special thank you to the members of the classes of 1957, 1960, 1961, and 1962 who conceived and funded the $3000 match.
Members of the Classes of 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962
- Mike Calabrese
- Nick Camino
- Joe Ceccarini
- Dave Weigel
- Con DeLetis
- Dave Ehlke
- John Fernbacher
- Bill Grad
- Frank Ilcin
- Maynard Isabell
- Rick Knazek
- Joe Svete
- Bob Modic
- Tom Mogan
- Al Muren
- Tom Prioreschi
Donors
- Anonymous Alumnus
- Anonymous Alumnus
- Anonymous Alumnus
- Gabriel Bloom
- Jason Dolan
- Gary Jarkewicz
- Frank Kearney
- Stephen Marquis
- Wayne Miller
- Cody Rappoport
- Tony Rossi
- Robert Sepsi
- David Sutula
Our insurance company inspected the chapter house property in August and sent us a letter requiring eleven issues to be corrected. Failure to comply with the recommendations in a timely and effective fashion could have resulted in the loss of our insurance coverage. We are pleased to report that we have resolved all the issues that were raised. The insurance company closed their audit upon the submission of the proper documentation.
The cost to complete the issues noted below was approximately $8,000 of alumni funds plus labor by alumni and undergraduate brothers. Some of this work was done at our October 2022 Work Weekend, and other pieces throughout the last quarter of 2022. We also had to engage the services of multiple contractors to complete some portions of the work.
- We obtained several quotes and hired a roofing contractor to perform two repairs.
- After the insurance company raised concerns over the use of the grill on the deck, we relocated the grill to the garage for storage, installed a sign regarding where it was permissible to use the grill, and amended the House Rule to reinforce the message.
- We hired a tree service to remove three trees which were encroaching on the garage building and causing roof wear.
- We purchased and installed new handrails at three exterior staircases, plus one new patio railing. We removed an unstable concrete paver staircase.
- We hired a fire equipment contractor to inspect all fire extinguishers and service the extinguishers needing recharge or repair.
- We purchased and installed replacement exit signs and emergency lighting throughout the house. We hired an electrical contractor to install power and a lighted exit sign and emergency lighting at the back door. The contractor also installed an outdoor security light which was not required by the insurance company.
- We had contractors inspect the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems.
- The insurance company originally expressed concern about our chimneys and flues but waived this item after we submitted that we prohibit use of the fireplace.
- We safely disposed of many gallons of flammable liquids from throughout the house and garage. We purchased a used cabinet that is designed to store flammable liquids and placed it in the garage. All remaining usable flammable liquids are now safely stored inside this cabinet. We posted signs at various locations throughout the house and garage prohibiting storage of flammable liquids and materials anywhere other than the cabinet.
- In order to mitigate trip and fall concerns, we purchased three custom-made window well grates and installed them on the front window wells. We patched missing or broken tiles on the front patio.
- We disposed of a large amount of trash, furniture, and miscellaneous debris. All trash is now kept in enclosed carts in between collections. We posted signs requiring trash to be kept only in closed containers. As long as trash can be kept under control, we can continue to use the low-cost City-provided trash collection service while satisfying insurance requirements and avoid the expense of a commercial dumpster service.
In addition to addressing the concerns raised by our insurance carrier, this project highlighted the need to have funds on hand for emergency repairs as well as the value of having an active Alumni Association to provide expertise and labor to address issues promptly.
One of three custom window well grates installed over the front window wells.
An unstable staircase off the porch was removed and this railing was installed in its place.
Our “new to us” flammable materials cabinet in the garage.
Trust us, there are a lot fewer trees behind the garage than there were before.
When we were planning the October 2022 Work Weekend, we knew that we wanted to repair the Chapter Room, Study Room, Red Room and first floor hallways. We also knew that paint is not cheap, so we reached out to alumni Nate Jacobsen, who works at Sherwin Williams. Nate was more than happy to let us use his employee discount to reduce our costs, but then he took it a step further and picked up the remaining cost of the paint out of his own pocket. If that wasn't enough, Nate showed up to help paint that weekend. Thank you Brother Jacobsen for your generosity and embodiment of “Give, Expecting Nothing Thereof.” The house looks great!
Brothers, do you have experience with HTML, web development, WordPress plugins, email newsletters or email templates? Does reading through documentation for our backend system CiviCRM to unlock new features in our website sound like good fun? We have big aspirations for ohioalphabeta.org and need your assistance to bring them to fruition.
If either of these roles sounds interesting to you, please reach out to Nathan Kossover at secretary@ohioalphabeta.org to volunteer. This work can be done from anywhere in the world.