September 2020
Brothers,
We hope that during this unprecedented time in our country’s history all your families remain happy and, especially, healthy. With school coming to a screeching halt over our Spring Break this past March, we would like to apologize for not getting an opportunity to send out a spring newsletter this year. Hopefully, this edition proves helpful and informative for all of you.
Prior to the pandemic, the chapter welcomed 12 new members to the Beta-Pi chapter during a highly successful spring rush. Due to Covid, we were unable to finish our traditional pledging in the spring, but we were able to complete rituals and initiate these new brothers with a socially distanced initiation this fall. In other news, while what would’ve been our 12th annual Surf n’ Turf Philanthropy had to be cancelled, we orchestrated two successful social media philanthropy campaigns that raised over $3000 for both Covid-19 relief and minority groups in the Charlottesville area.
As you will see throughout this newsletter, amazing things have been happening both for individual brothers and for the chapter beyond our philanthropy events. We are particularly proud to have added an in-house chef for the brotherhood this semester, which was accompanied by a kitchen renovation funded by Campus Cooks, the group who is providing our chef. This will be an excellent resource for both fostering brotherhood and attracting future new members.
Unfortunately, with the economic recession that has occurred due to the pandemic, many of our brothers find themselves unable to afford being an active brother for the time being. This has put a financial burden on the chapter as our expenses have remained constant. If you are able, we would very much appreciate any support you could offer during the most challenging financial time for Beta-Pi in the last decade-plus. Thank you in advance for your support.
Amid the uncertainty facing students at the University of Virginia and the country, we are excited to continue the great traditions of this chapter, albeit in virtual and socially distanced ways. We are looking forward to a terrific semester in the fall of 2020. As always, we encourage all alumni to contact us at any time, and we again hope your families are in good health.
Fraternally,
2020 Sage: Ryan Kelly | rck9mp@virginia.edu