Alpha Tau Omega - Iowa State University

TAU TALK ALPHA TAU OMEGA AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY SPRING 2015 Larry Thorpe '50 Gives To a sTronGer Gamma UpsiLon I t wasn't a direct path that led Larry Thorpe '50 to Gamma Upsilon. Having grown up in Ames, the University of Missouri and a journalism degree beckoned, but when he changed his major to technical journalism, Iowa State appeared the better choice. Despite the transitions, ATW remained a constant in his college experience. "Before leaving for Missouri, I was invited along with some other Ames guys to a picnic and met several of the Gamma Upsilon active members. When they learned I was headed for Missouri, they informed the rush chairman at Gamma Rho, and I received a royal welcome in Columbia. That's largely why I joined the fraternity there, and when I returned to Iowa State a year later, I was welcomed back." The memories that stand out are varied—from pinning his future wife in the living room of the ATW house to road trips with brothers. "Ed Duncan '51, Bill Gardiner '52, Dean Arney '54, Bill Pierce '51, and I made a great road trip to Lawrence, Kansas, for a football game. We sat in the front row of the KU stadium and stayed at the ATW house. The brotherhood we experienced on trips like that, building VEISHEA floats, sorority serenades, intramurals, and just hanging out at the house are memories that stay with us forever." Larry graduated from ISU and served for five years in the U.S. Navy before entering a career in public relations. He got his start with Dow Chemical in Midland, (Continued on page 3) Renovations to Commence This Summer As Fundraising Campaign Continues • Campaign Committee Thanks Doug Kirk '75 for his Service • Bill Gardiner '52 Matching Gift Challenge Met T his spring started off strong. We made some good progress at the end of 2014 and we know that together we can make a great 2015. Thank You, Doug Kirk! Doug Kirk '75, our fearless campaign chairman leader, has put in four years of service to this capital campaign and his term has come to an end. Doug has decided he needs to move on from his active role in the campaign and focus on his business. We respect his decision and we sincerely thank him for his service to ATW, Gamma Upsilon, and the capital campaign. We wish you good luck, Doug! Bill Gardiner '52 $50,000 Matching Gift Challenge Met Excitement abounded at the beginning of the year when we learned that Bill's $50,000 dollar-for-dollar matching gift challenge was met with resounding support. Not only did we raise an additional $50,000 from Bill's challenge, we raised more than $90,000! Thank you, Bill, for your generous gift and for inspiring others to make a donation. Renovation Progress Due to the generous support of our brothers and friends, some major renovations will commence this summer. To date, we have raised more than $950,000 from only 16% of Gamma Upsilon members. Unfortunately, we really needed to reach $1 million by December 31 and we fell short. Because of this, we cannot plan on the full renovation at this time. We will have to piece-meal the project to get us by another year. We want you to know why it is so critical that we hit our $1.25 million goal. We're being very conservative with our renovation, but it must be done. Because we're being conservative and trying to stretch your dollars as best as we can, we have a scaled-down project compared to our competitors. Many of our competitors are raising more than $2 million for their projects, including our next door neighbors. This makes it difficult to recruit strong members when just next door there is a superior house. The work this summer will help, but we will still have more to do. We can only do more with your support. Help Us Finish the Project with a Pledge Today We urge the 84% of Gamma Upsilon alumni who have not yet pledged their support for this program to do so now. If you have contributed but know brothers whose names are not yet on the donor list shown on pages 2 and 3, please contact them and urge them to help. And please bear in mind that a pledge of $2,500 or more over five years will get your name added to a donor plaque to be prominently displayed in the chapter house. If you have donated less than $2,500, consider increasing your pledge to make sure your name is included with your brothers. Use the enclosed pledge form or make a pledge online at http://ato.kintera.org/gammaupsilon to show your support today. ATW friendships prevail well beyond undergraduate years. Please do what you can to close the gap to our goal so that we can complete our renovations and fulfill all of the necessary construction goals. Fraternally, William J. Burke Jr. '74 Campaign Treasurer (515) 239-7175 bill.burke@harvest-innovations.com Rolf E. Hansen '74 House Corporation Board (505) 451-6961 rhansenato@gmail.com Donate today! http://ato. kintera.org/ gammaupsilon

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