Sisters,

Beta Epsilon began a HUGE renovation project on the chapter house this summer and we are tirelessly fundraising the remaining sum to complete the much-needed changes. In addition to the yearly updates to the rooms and general maintenance, BE has sponsored a complete renovation of 3 bathrooms and the formal room. We have a long way to go on updating the rest of the house, but we need your help in this phase of our project! Please do not hesitate to contact me, Amanda Kocefas at kocefas@gmail.com regarding this project!

Below is the letter we mailed to Beta Epsilon alumnae:

June 26, 2011

Dear Alpha Chi Sister,

The Alpha Chi Omega chapter house at Michigan State University will turn 50 years old

next year. It is a wonderful house with beautiful Georgian architecture and spacious

rooms. Our house, at 243 Burcham Drive, has been home to more than 880 young Alpha

Chi Omega sisters over the years.

Today our house is in need a lot of extensive renovation and repairs. The Beta Epsilon

House Corporation Board is obtaining a 7-year loan, to make major improvements in the

bathrooms, dayrooms, hallways, formal room, library and entry areas this summer. These

renovations will be completed before the collegiate members return this August.

We all know how important the appearance of the house is, especially each fall when

recruitment guests tour the building. We want to give our current active collegiate sisters

every advantage possible in maintaining Beta Epsilon’s strong, vibrant standing on the

MSU campus and among AXO chapters nationally. We also want to provide a comfortable

and modern living environment for our collegiate sisters in the Beta Epsilon chapter.

If you’re reading this and wondering if you can help, the answer is yes!

The money from the loan will not allow us to complete all necessary work. Our goal is to

raise $10,000 from our alumnae sisters. If each Alpha Chi Omega alumna reading this just

gave $5, that would make a huge difference — so imagine how quickly we could reach and

surpass our goal if all of our sisters gave $25 each!

If you can help, please send a check (in any amount!) to:

Karen Jurgensen

423 Clifton Blvd

East Lansing MI 48823

Please make the check payable to AXO House Corporation for BE Chapter.

For those of you who prefer to contribute electronically, we have also established

a PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-

xclick&hosted_button_id=8XTGS34F664A4

Thank you from your sisters in the local alum group who are taking on this project, and

from all the current actives that will benefit from your generosity. The house will be open

for a brunch during Homecoming Weekend. Look for more information and please plan

to stop for a grand tour and see what an amazing transformation your contributions have

achieved!

Loyally in the bond,

Lee Griffin, President, House Corporation

Some of the current “bad news” (hole in library ceiling due to plumbing repair;

old, torn wallpaper in dayrooms; stained, cracked tile in the bathrooms) below:

House Corp is intent on maintaining the integrity of the house’s beautiful

Georgian architecture. Included in this project are retiling and new fixtures in the blue

bathroom on the first floor and the crowded yellow bathroom on the second floor this

summer. The space for both bathrooms will be enlarged by capturing adjacent closets

that have become clutter-collectors. The old green carpet in the formal room and library

is going! New paint, lighting, carpet, and draperies will update and enliven those rooms.

The entry hall and main hall are getting new paint, wallpaper and refinished slate; the

crown moldings added in earlier years will be finished; and the powder room off the entry

will get a serious makeover. Upstairs and in the first floor dayrooms, all the old stained

and damaged wallpaper will go and the walls will be repaired and painted. The hallways

will get new paint and carpet as well. Many of the outdated light fixtures in these rooms

will be replaced.

All of this is expensive, of course. Some things had to be left out of the budget.

With your help, we could finish the job. We would like to replace the raggedy

carpeting in the eight remaining rooms with hard flooring (Pergo laminate with the look

of hardwood), but that project has been reserved in case we get unpleasant surprises

in plumbing or walls as the work progresses. The shelves and the woodwork in the

dayrooms need to be repaired and painted. The accordion door between the entry and

the informal that is used extensively during rush activities is falling apart and should be

replaced. We want to recarpet the Hall of Knowledge to go with its new paint and color

scheme and tie it into the whole first floor. The old phone booth by the mailboxes needs a

door and repair both to make it more functional for trash and recycling and to keep it out

of sight when guests arrive. The mailbox cabinet itself is getting pretty tacky after years of

hard use. If, in our wildest dreams, we raised enough money, we would put doors on the

closets in the dayrooms (the original sliding doors have broken and been removed). We

would paint and recarpet the dormers. We would put blinds on the windows in the formal

room, library, and entry. You get the picture! Can you help?