I hope you’re all enjoying your summers. I wanted to let you all know that I made it back safely from Conclave down in New Orleans. I’m so thankful to have been a part of such an incredible event.

I was able to witness the initiation of Tau Kappa Epsilon’s 250,000th frater in the bond: Forbes Magazine’s own Mr. Steve Forbes. I met fraters from all corners of our great country, and even a few that were our neighbors to the north from Canada. One of the heights of the trip was when nearly a thousand TKEs literally shut down city streets as we paraded through the french quarter.

I attended an Alumni Association development workshop, to learn what makes a successful group of alumni fraters who strive to contribute back to their fraternity. The panel was made up of the Presidents of Alumni Associations that had been around for decades, and also a few who had just started brand new associations of their own. I was able to take away a ton of ideas for how to help establish and sustain our group of men, and also how to achieve our ultimate goal:

In our pursuit of this goal, I’m looking forward to doing my best to help you all find the right level of contribution and activity in this effort. Since you were all man enough to step up and take our bond in this fraternity for life, I will be man enough to tell you all what we need and ask you for your support.

I am asking for each of you to:

• contribute twenty five dollars for annual membership dues, and to donate more if you are able. This will help us pay for our fees and build a good size financial fund with which we can contribute to philanthropies and chapter support. Payments can be made online or via check to our treasurer, and will be accepted at the annual meeting prior to opening new business. http://muomegatke.com is our website, payments can be made via the paypal links at the top right.

• attend the business meeting at Brion’s Grille at 7pm on September 15th, or attend by phone (conference call info will be sent out), or vote by email proxy on all motions be sent out. Your feedback will ensure that we operate to a level that is expected of us.

• reach out to any fraters you are still in contact with that are not yet members and ask them to join us.

I will be sending out a few more reminders as the meeting approaches, specifically detailing the chapter’s planned fall rush activities and ways that we can help contribute to their recruitment success. Scott our secretary, will also be sending out a list of propositions to be voted on via proxy in case anyone is unable to attend the meeting…

Oh and one more thing… Initiation. Some of you haven’t participated in a TKE ritual in over 20+ years, and I want this to be the spark to reignite the TKE flame in all of us. Scheduling the Fraternity for Life Ritual to act as the initiation ceremony to our Alumni Association will do just that, and reward your renewed commitment to our bond by unveiling the final secret of Tau Kappa Epsilon. Putting this event on our Fall calendar will be a part of New Business at our Annual Meeting.

Please let me know if you have any questions at all, and thanks in advance for all your help and contributions.

Yours In The Bond,

Chris Hall

#651