Dear Brothers All:
I t is my honor to serve as your Senior Kappa Affairs Chairman. I would like to thank the Grand Polemarch for his continued support as we Leave and Legacy, Build a Future. The Senior Kappa Affairs Committee is com- prised of 12 hardworking brothers, who serve their respective provinces to serve those who have served Kappa the longest. I would like to thank each of these brothers for their persistence and dedication to our cause. Your Senior Kappa Affairs Committee members are listed on the opposite page. To retain and reclaim members of the fraternity who are 60 years of age and older as active, con- tributing, fully financial brothers, to encourage programs that will facilitate their involvement that will enhance their well being, we also en- courage our local chapter committees to involve themselves in community service initiatives that are geared toward senior citizens in their respec- tive service area. Your Senior Kappa Affairs Committee has worked diligently at a number of areas in the last four years. Here is a synopsis of our accomplish- ments and goals: 1. Prior to 2014, the number of alumni chapters with a standing committee was not tracked by this committee. We have made steady progress since 2015 to track and report this important measure. In 2015, we found that only 28 percent of alumni chapters reported having a stand- ing committee. We have steadily increased the percentage over the past four years and during our January 2019 reporting period, 83 percent of our alumni chapters reported having a standing Senior Kappa committee. This surpasses our goal of having 80 percent of alumni chapters for the 2018-2019 fraternal year with a standing Senior Kappa Affairs Committee. This is indica- tive of the great work being done by our Province Chairmen and the support this committee has received from this administration! 2. Prior to 2015, the age to be considered a Senior Kappa was 65 years of age or older; which was contrary to our Mission Statement. In 2016, at the Grand Board Meeting in 2016 in Mobile, Alabama, after some 15 years of petitioning the Grand Board, the Grand Board of Directors saw fit to reestablish the Senior Kappa threshold age The mission of the Senior Kappa Affairs Com- mittee is:
to be 60 years of age and older.
3. We have also increased the number of Senior Kappa registrants at the Grand Chapter Meet- ings. During the 83 rd Grand Chapter Meet- ing, of the 2,709 brothers registered, 930 were registered as Senior Kappas. This is the largest number of Senior Kappas to attend a Grand Chapter Meeting, so far. At the 82 nd Grand Chapter Meeting, 720 of the 2,843 registered brothers were Senior Kappas. As of the June 2019 Grand Board Meeting, the numbers for the 84 th Grand Chapter Meeting reflect there are 3,213 registrants, of that number 961 are Senior Kappas. toward a goal of 1000 registered Senior Kappa’s for the 84 th GCM. We are great mak- ing strides to reaching our goal of having 1000 Senior Kappas registered for the 84th Grand Chapter Meeting. 4. Senior Kappa Week is an initiative that was birthed in the Southeastern Province in 2014. We asked each chapter to have at least one activ- ity that was geared toward their Senior Kappas and/or senior citizens in their service area. The initiative proved so successful that the Grand Board of Directors approved Senior Kappa Week as a national initiative in 2016 to be celebrated the third week of May of each year. The number of alumni chapters participating has increased steadily over the years with over 250 alumni chapters reporting having at least one initiative during Senior Kappa Week 2019. L. Battles, Jr. in 2015 as a vehicle to support activities of local alumni Senior Kappa Affairs Committees. The goal was to raise at least one million dollars and to use the interest generated to fund community service projects by local alumni chapter Senior Kappa Affairs Commit- tees. We have reached our goal of one million dollars and counting, and as a result 25 Senior Kappa Affairs Committees were awarded grants from a pool of $22,800 during May 2019. Thank you to all the brothers who continue to support your Senior Kappa Affairs Committee. We could not do this without you. 5. The Senior Kappa Affairs Endowment Fund was envisioned by our Grand Polemarch Thomas
Yours in the Bond,
John L. Stewart, Jr. Senior Kappa Affairs Chairman
12 | SPRING ISSUE THE JOURNAL
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