Dear Alumni of Delta Upsilon Fraternity…
As many of you may know DU had a groundbreaking ceremony last fall for a new fraternity house. How exciting for them to have a new house. The current house is in need of too many repairs to make it a nice home for the fraternity. In fact, when I became house mother 33 years ago (1989-2006) the house was not in the best of shape even those so many years ago. It certainly is in a sad state at this time.
The fraternity will always hold a very special place in my heart. I met so many wonderful young men as they entered the doors as freshmen. Now I see them having graduated and having children…what happened to the time?
I remember so well many of the young men when I was housemother, wondering why the alumni were not very good at participating in supporting the house after they had graduated. After they graduated, I remember a few of them telling me that they now understood how they just got busy with their own life’s with family, etc. and possibly could not afford to help the fraternity.
You men of the ‘90’s and ‘00’s have now settled in with your family growing and even leaving home. I would encourage all of you to help the fraternity with donations towards this new, much needed, home for DU. The house is about $2.5 million under the rising cost of construction and in the coming weeks important decisions will be made as they move forward with this project.
If you think about it, all you would have to do is maybe skip one of the meals of eating out or just eliminate one stop at “Starbucks” or the like, and donate this money to the house for the upcoming project. A new house would positively impact future generations of DU brothers at North Dakota.
Delta Upsilon and its brothers mean so much to me as I’m sure they hold a very special place in your hearts too from your years at the fraternity. Think back on how much you enjoyed your time in the house and how much it meant to you. Think of how much more it would have meant to you if the alumni would have stepped up to the plate and helped in many different ways at the fraternity. Now you are those alumni and I charge you to “step up to the plate” and help the house with a donation towards this new home for DU. Imagine how much this would have meant to you when you were in college at DU if the alumni would have stepped forward in helping.
We have some very diligent alumni who are helping and care about the future of Delta Upsilon. I was asked to give the current house members a little etiquette lesson both in a meeting and at a “formal” dinner like you all had in the past. I did this for them and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all these young men in the meeting and dinner as it brought back so many memories of all of you sitting on those same couches and chairs in the formal. I was surprised at the sad state of the house compared to when I was housemother. We really need the help of you alumni to make a positive impact for future generations of your current and future DU Brothers.
Thank you for your time in reading this. I am hopeful that you will find a way to help support the new home with a financial donation either with a one-time donation or on a monthly basis. If many of you step up and financially support the house it will make a huge difference in being able to move forward with this project of a new DU home.
Sincerely Yours,
Helen “mom”
Helen H. Heen
former DU Housemother
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