Silver Turtle:
We basically reorganized our club about 5-6 years ago after several years of existing in name only. (all going back to the merger of our nationals, but I won't go into that now). What we did was form a solid base with recent alumni (the last 5 years or so)and work on bringing in older alumni. We have the advantage of having a pretty large chunk of our alumni in the metropolitan Indianapolis area. We started by having some informal gatherings (parties, barbecues, etc.) and invited all of the local alumni, their spouses, family, etc. People had such a great time, they were willing to "officially" be a part of the alumni organization. We re-incorporated and eventually took over the responsibilties of managing the chapter house.(the alumni had owned the house all along but hadn't done anything in ten years!) Everyone paid $25 a year in sutstaining member dues which gave us the funds to start doing a newsletter which we send to all of our alumni (getting good addresses took awhile). To make a long story short, we are now underway with the first major chapter house renovation in 30 years, and are planning a big banquet to commemorate our chapter's 75th anniversary in 20001. My advice? Start small with recent alumni, get everyone to make that re-connection to the brotherhood (it is amazing how quickly work, marriage and family can break that connection with each other), and when that connection is re-established... get organized. It won't happen overnight, so be prepared to be in it for the long haul. I'm beginning my second 2-year term as president. Good Luck!
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