NY Omega Epsilon Chapter Celebrates Ten Year Anniversary
When it comes to planning a Ten Year Anniversary Eli Jacobson, Alumni Chair of NY Omega Epsilon Chapter, started an entire year early and it was no easy task. “We knew that this was going to take a lot of planning and hard work, but by keeping the lines of communication open with alumni and the actives, as well as having the drive to make this the best event it could be, we knew we could accomplish this large task.”
Eli started planning by setting a date and finding a venue for this event. What is a better day to have an anniversary celebration and alumni reunion then Founder’s Day? “We first knew that we wanted to have this event on Founders Day, March 21. We also knew that we wanted this to be in a banquet hall, so we contacted a local microbrewery in downtown Buffalo and made sure we could reserve the date well in advance.”
Eli also contacted key alumni that were able to help plan and promote the event well in advance and to as many alumni of the chapter as possible. “I enlisted the help and assistance of a Founding Father to attempt to contact as many alumni as possible. Without him, our event would not have taken place. He sent out weekly emails and put together a database of emails and cell numbers of as many alumni as we could get in touch with. This process was vital to the success of the event. Word of mouth began to spread across the country to all of our brothers. By December, we had compiled a list of almost all of brothers and sent out official emails with digital invitations to let everyone know the event was indeed happening, along with the date, time and place.” The founding father mentioned above would later go on to be awarded the alumni brother of the year.
All of Eli’s planning along with the help of the rest of the chapter and those key alumni made the event a complete success. “We had a banquet room with a buffet style dinner and some great Buffalo Wings to eat throughout the night. Some of the Founding Fathers gave speeches, as well as our active Rex. It was great to see that no matter how much time passes, our love for Pi lam and our pride of wearing the purple and gold never leaves. These guys were just as into screaming Jolly Laddies at the top of their lungs as us younger guys were. It was truly great to see. Having events like this are vital to a fraternity because it shows that your love for Pi lam will not leave when you graduate. ‘Not four years, but a lifetime.’ ”
Snaps go out to Eli and the NY Omega Epsilon Chapter for putting together a great event that other chapters can start getting ready for as well. This is a great example of how early planning and good alumni communications, can lead to great events. | 
