ADGEF Reports Jump in Donations,
to Award $2,000 Scholarship this Summer
By WAYNE PALMER-BALL
President
Alpha Delta Gamma Educational
Foundation, Inc
Welcome to the new online version of Alphadelity, our latest effort to keep alumni informed about the latest news and developments within your fraternity. I hope you enjoy all the information provided by our various contributors, and also hope you too will write and contribute your own stories and updates for future issues. You should also note that the ADGEF website includes future plans for direct access to the official ADG website, www.alphadeltagamma.org, to provide a link to the ADG store, and to advise you of upcoming chapter celebrations, anniversaries and alumni events.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our former President, James Van de Voorde, for his contributions to ADGEF. James worked tirelessly to makes us a better foundation, devoting his time and resources to improving our national database, creating the website and the format for developing our alumni resources. James stepped down in 2000 after serving ADGEF the previous four years, but he continues to work for us behind the scenes by monitoring our funds, planning events and contributing his expertise. Thanks James!
I am very pleased to report that we have re-instituted the ADGEF scholarship program over the past year. This summer, one deserving undergraduate will receive a $2,000 scholarship to help with the ever-increasing cost of college. We will announce the recipient at the upcoming convention in New Orleans.
We are also currently working on updating the history of the national fraternity. Several people have worked diligently to make this project a priority. While we are still raising funds to pay for publishing the new history, we felt it was important that the history be maintained and ready to go to press. I would like to thank several brothers for their commitment to making this a reality. They include Chris Siegried, Dave Macke, Anthony De Santis, Mike Blackstock and Bryan Lind.
In addition, our last alumni solicitation in 2001 resulted in the greatest response ever, with more than 200 donors contributing a total in excess of $15,000. We also received our first major donation from a single brother, a gift of $5,000 from one of our esteemed alumni who has supported our efforts in the past but who prefers to remain anonymous.
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( WAYNE PALMER-BALL President ADGEF, Inc)
I am also pleased to announce that, while we have only recently begun our latest outreach, we have already received another large donation from a second major donor for another $5,000. This second alumnus also wishes to remain anonymous, but the contributions of these two individuals over the last two years have paved the way for all of us. We hope you can see the value of helping us to endow the future of ADGEF and our scholarship program, and put us on the road toward having a paid staff to take some of the load off our volunteers. Thanks again to our major contributors and everyone who has supported our vision. And, special thanks also to Past National President Andy Schoettker for his commitment to making these solicitations a success. Andy managed both the 2001 and 2003 efforts and has done an outstanding job.
Before closing, I wish to thank several brothers who have contributed to making this first online issue a reality. They include James Smith, who initially suggested it and kept the idea moving forward; our editor, Past National President Bernie Sandalow, who makes sure it looks great and reads right; and finally John Koehler, our shining computer geek, who has done so much to make the website and this issue a reality that we can all be proud of.
Finally, I want everyone to know I have taken it upon myself, as I finish my three years as President, to work on finishing the alumni database project. I have spent countless hours inputting updates received from alumni - more than 2,000 address corrections or deletions over the past two years, along with another 1,000 new brothers who have been added over the past 10 years and, finally, more than 1,000 e-mail updates. I hope to finish this project soon - and, once it is complete, I hope we can all feel confident in sending mail to our alumni and that everyone who wants to hear from us will. I urge you to please e-mail me any address changes as soon as possible, to TopADG@aol.com. Or, if you prefer, you can "snail mail" me at my home address, 7553 Highway V, Caledonia, WI 53108, hopefully including as generous a tax- deductible contribution as you can afford toward ensuring the future success of our foundation.
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