UPDATE as of 02/14/2011: To date $5,307.71 has been raised and $3,180 has been dispursed to pay for 2 semesters of college for Cate so far. There is enough in the fund for one more semester, but not much more than that. If you have a few dollars to spare please donate using the Paypal link at the bottom of this page.
If you have any questions about the educational fund please send them to us using the Contact Us link and we will get it over to Tony van Diggelen who is the Fund Administrator.
Brothers,
As many of you know, our brother, Steve Eldredge, ‘76, passed away April 18 after a 3½ year battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a fatal motor neuron disease better known as Lou Gehrig disease. Those who were close to Steve, also known as “Cleaver,” knew him as a fun-loving, generous, and great guy. In the end, he showed us what real courage is.
During the last years of his life, he wrote a blog in which he poured out his heart. It gives you an idea of the kind of person he was and I recommend all of you read (http://learning-how-to-live.blogspot.com). All of us who knew him will miss him greatly.
Upon hearing of his impending death, an incredible thing happened.
In his last blog, he asked for help to send his daughter, Cate, to college.
Immediately three brothers came up with $1,000 each, and we received commitments for $4,900. Emails began flying back and forth. In one day I got over 25 emails regarding this. More than once,
I found myself choked up while reading the emails. It involved brothers who didn’t know Steve personally, both older and younger, who became a part of this. A bank account was set up and Don Hartman, ’73, was named executor.
Steve died with the assurance that his “brothers” would be there to make sure things would be handled. It helped him die in peace. As I said, it was a most heartwarming, incredible display of Brotherhood. It was not something I truly understood when I joined this fraternity, but having seen this happen, I now understand what it can be.
Steve’s reach out to the fraternity seemed to be a springboard to bring us together, including a renewed sense of purpose for the recently formed Alumni Association.
A couple of meetings/get togethers/drinking (no, really some of these guys drink … heavily) culminated with an alumni picnic on August 14 at Fairmont Park attracting over 60 people who had lots of fun.
Steve’s daughter, Cate, was the honored guest and received a check for over $1,500 to help with her first year of college. By the way, thanks to her mom, Cate is drop dead beautiful. (I’m wondering how Steve was involved). Anyway, she will be receiving additional money throughout her college career as needed.
This has prompted an additional scholarship fund for similar things, and in the future we will be asking all Pi K A, Alpha Tau members to help.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you who were involved in this. Some of you I haven’t even met personally. The words, “I’m proud to be a member of Pi Kappa Alpha” stopped being a cliché’ because of this. You guys are amazing. Thank you.
(I didn’t include any names. I may miss one or two and others may not want to be mentioned by name).
Mike Nemelka
The below Paypal button is linked directly to the account that has been set-up for for Cate Edredge's education. The Alumni Association does not administer this account, but we provide this information for anyone who would like to contribute to this worthy cause.
On August 28th 2010, our Brother, Eric Wright passed away in a tragic accident while on an internship with the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics in Washington, DC. The Wright family is encouraging donations to the Eric Wright Scholarship Fund which has been created by The Hinkley Institute of Politics in his honor. The Kirk and Kristen Jowers Global Scholarship Fund will match the first the first $25,000 raised.