Alpha Tau Omega - University of Florida

A llen Lastinger '61 has always found himself more than motivated to giveback to Alpha Omega Chapter. In the '70s, he gave his time by serving on the house board, and when the capital campaign to raise money for house renovations was announced, he became even more involved. "Howe Wallace '74 and I were co-chairmen on that campaign, and I'll have to say Howe did most of the heavy lifting," Allen said humbly. "The bottom line is, we weathered a very difficult time, raised enough money to renovate the Chapter house, and the Chapter has had an outstanding record of achievement since then." Allen had the opportunity to visit the Chapter shortly after the renovation and found it to be both amazingly the same, yet significantly different. He saw the same camaraderie and friendships among the Brothers, but the improvements to the house itself were remarkable. "I was very impressed with the pride the Brothers had in the Chapter and their commitment to keep it in good repair." Allen also volunteered during his time as an undergraduate, and he's beyond grateful he did. In the early 1960s, Alpha Tau Omega created the Little Sisters of the Maltese Cross, and Allen was asked to be the pledge master. Among those Little Sisters was Delores Taylor, who became his wife a week after they graduated. SUMMER 2022 ALPHA OMEGAN the A L P H A T A U O M E G A F R A T E R N I T Y A T T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F F L O R I D A A lpha Omega Chapter remains in excellent financial condition, and Worthy Master Grant Thrower '19 and Exchequer Paul Snider '19 have picked up where Jay McArthur '18 and Max Farfante '18 left off in emphasizing the financial responsibilities of being a Brother. Thanks to our members' continued reliability and their dedication to ΑΤΩ, the Chapter has once again collected nearly 100% of dues. Last year, Alpha Omega reached a record of 211 members. This spring, we welcomed additional quality pledges into the brotherhood, and we now stand at 223 active Brothers. With the larger fraternity, the Chapter was able to carry a surplus of funds into the social budget. Our active members continue to be leaders philanthropically, and we are proud of their accomplishments this year, including collecting more than $6,500 for their spring philanthropy and helping to raise $3,000 for Gainesville Thrives at the IFC Charity Cup. As we previously shared, we have experienced intermittent flooding in the basement of the Mansion. The flooding comes as the water table rises, and our initial plan of installing a French drain did not fix the issue. We have not made any substantial progress on the basement and are still pursuing a remedy. In other news, our members are enjoying the washers and dryers we installed last spring—I sure would have liked to have had them back in my time! The Mansion is currently getting its annual cleaning as well as maintenance and repairs. Additionally, the sundeck has been renewed and work on an outdoor grill will be completed this summer. Our next project is to restore many of the composites. After we restore them, we plan to secure them to the walls so they don't grow legs and disappear! As a fraternity, we have been blessed with strong leadership from the actives and from many alumni. If you haven't heard it recently, please accept our thanks. I hope to see many of you in the fall when Billy Napier raises Florida football to the elite of the country. LAMB. Love and Respect, Mike McVeigh '75 Chapter Advisor | (904) 535-0522 ΑΤΩ Continues to Excel ALPHA OMEGA ENGAGES IN PROJECTS AND SOLUTIONS P A Y I N G I T F O R W A R D The Many Ways Allen Lastinger '61 Gives Back (Continued on page 2)

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