KAPPA COMMENTARY
Being Financial and being Active are two distinct categories; therefore a brother can pay his national dues without attending every chapter meeting. There are brothers who cannot attend chapter meetings but can support Guide Right meetings, Social Action programs and other chapter-related activities.
we come across brothers who state they don’t have the time to be active, please ask the brother to at least pay his national dues so he can stay connected to what the fraternity is doing. While it is a culture change, we must ensure that no brother uses money as an excuse to not be active. Our survey showed salary demographics ranging from $50,000 - $300,000+ therefore money can truly be an issue for a small population of brothers. Neverthe- less, as stated previously, being Active and Financial are mutually exclusive. We must encourage brothers to come around despite their financial situation. I have personally experienced a non- financial brother who found himself in between jobs and hurting financially. Yet this brother loved the bond so much he attended Adopt-A-Highway, Guide Right Meetings, and sold enough tickets to the chapter’s Annual Gala to sponsor his own table. He continued to work for the chapter until he found employ- ment. During the 83 rd Grand Chapter Meeting I ran into a chapter Polemarch who shared that his chapter charged re- claimed brothers $19.11 for local dues. Another chapter informed me that they prorate local dues for reclaimed broth- ers. To combat the pipeline of brothers who become inactive post-graduation, several chapters waive local dues for recent graduates. While there was a wealth of positivity and innovative ideas on how we can ease the financial
burden of brothers coming home to Kappa, we must also hold ourselves to a higher standard. There are those among us who find the time and money for those things that are important to them. Many of us have shoes that cost more than national dues so the least we can do is honor our oath and support the Fraternity as we give back to our Senior Kappas, Guide Right, Scholarships, St. Jude, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture to name a few causes. Politics exist in every aspect of our lives including our jobs, church, and even at home. Kappa is not immune to politics but that should not be a reason to be inactive. The Bond was strong in Orlando and you couldn’t help but feel Phi Nu Pi in the air. At Conclave you saw it in every direction as brothers who hadn’t seen each other in a while fellowshipped together in harmony. The bottom line is, there is nothing that two civilized men of achievement cannot sit down and discuss. Sometimes we will agree to disagree, but the thing that binds us together is stronger than that we differ on. After analyzing the survey the com- mittee went to work. We hosted our first national reclamation webinar that was attended by brothers all across the fraternity. During the webinar we laid out initiatives that we are now proud to announce as accomplishments.
Our signature initiative was aimed at reclaiming brothers who were initiated at our collegiate chapters. This was key given the statistic that for every ten members initiated at a collegiate chapter only two remained in good standing. Our immediate Past Junior Grand Vice Polemarch Chastin Gam- mage was instrumental in working with our collegiate chapters towards reaching out to brothers. We promised that for every member reclaimed who had been inactive for four or more years, Kappa would grant 10% back to the collegiate chapter. Through this initiative Kappa is giving back approximately $18,000. We also sought to bring home our broth- ers who may have made mistakes in the past. Our second initiative aimed at easing the financial burden of members seeking reinstatement. This initiative was a huge success both financially and spiritually when you look at members who were lost coming back home and being productive for the fraternity. Brother T. Eugene Connaway and I have stayed in contact with many of these individuals who are now working in alumni chapters to make a difference. The Half Fine initiative accomplished in three months what was previously achieved on an annual basis. None of this could have been done without brothers like you, so we thank you for all that you have done and will do as we embark on another year.
Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
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