These are both strange and challenging times and the Alpha Delta chapter of Chi Phi has experienced both over recent months. The strange thing was the fact that after leaving on spring break, the students found themselves locked out of the university and fraternity house before they returned to State College. As a result, personal items were locked down in the house and the house was left with the eerie feeling of occupancy with nobody home.
The challenges were also financial. Actives who paid for a full semester of room and board were only allowed access to the house for just under half the semester. They were looking for a refund for the portion of the semester that
they were not able to use the house and the university set the precedent by refunding a pro-rated portion of room and board to the dorm residents. Unfortunately, over 80% of the operating costs for the semester were already incurred and the fixed overhead costs like the mortgage, insurance, property taxes, etc. continued. As a result, we were unable to cover the refund and remain financially viable. Our banker at BB&T deferred our mortgage payment for three months and recommended an SBA program for emergency funds, so we were able to obtain a $25k unsecured loan to allow us to make a nominal refund by mid-summer.
Once the University announced the school would open in the fall, we obtained housing contracts and developed a Covid risk management plan to open the house. However, it included numerous unplanned expenditures including closing off the kitchen, installing hand sanitizer stations and hiring an outside firm to provide twice-weekly Covid sanitation services. The brothers did their part to adjust and adapt, coordinating a smooth move-in process, observing the limited guest and social policies, managing through several positive Covid tests and quarantines, and generally hunkering down at the Kingdom for mostly online classes.
Please consider making an annual alumni contribution to help defray our costs and shore up our financial condition. The Campaign for Alpha Delta is nearly a decade behind us, and having barely survived by adding a mortgage to the pledges collected from alumni, we scuttled the original idea of a maintenance escrow to fund annual maintenance costs. Some of our aging kitchen equipment is finally having to be replaced, putting a strain on the annual operating budget. This fall we have replaced the main refrigerator, ice maker and freezer.
Click HERE to make a gift today!