Phi Delta Kappa Celebrates Centennial

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Phi Delta Kappa Celebrates Centennial

This New Year’s Day the brothers of Gamma Theta Chapter mark the one hundredth anniversary of their founding charter, issued to the original local membership on January 1, 1920, by the then young and growing Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity. Founded in Marion, Indiana in 1902, Phi Delta Kappa was established by seven young men with the shared vision of, “a Brotherhood of business and professional men, conceived in fellowship, based on ethics and faith in the Supreme Being, and dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of the American Way of Life.”   The national fraternity now has over nine hundred members spread among eleven chapters, located in Indiana, Florida and Mississippi.

While few organizations can match the “Phi Delts” at being quintessentially “Danville”, the original chapter house was actually located in Clayton, moving to the first of several Danville locations later that decade. The current home of Gamma Theta, acquired and built in 1964, features of sixty-six hundred square foot chapter house which includes a community room, commercial kitchen, bar room and rec room set on three beautifully wooded acres with outdoor cooking facilities and a playground for the kids and grandkids.

From its beginning a century ago, Danville’s Phi Delt membership has included a broad cross section of local businessmen, civic and agricultural leaders, professional men and hundreds of hard-working men who have wanted to give back to their community. The current roster numbers one hundred eighty-two and includes several third-generation members as well as twenty-two new initiates from just the last year.

The membership, along with their Sweethearts, families and guests enjoy a full schedule of club activities including regular Friday night dinners, bi-weekly steak dinners, golf outings, cooking contests, holiday events, formal dinner-dances and several national fraternity events. Philanthropic efforts include the Relay for Life, Sheltering Wings, Family Promise and six annual college scholarships.

A Grand Centennial Celebration is planned for this June to usher in the next century of good works, brotherhood and fellowship at the Gamma Theta Chapter of the Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity, here in the community we’ve been proud to serve for the past one hundred years.

Northern Chapter Chase – Larry Detro, Jr

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On the weekend of April 26 thru 28 the Northern Chapter Chase took place here in Indiana. Brother Doug Leach of Gamma Theta – Danville coordinated this event and done an excellent job.

Here at Beta Eta we kicked off the Chase on Friday by providing a variety of food to our members, having a drink special, raffling off a gift certificate to Firehouse BBQ and Blues, giving away a gift certificate to Jason’s Meat Market as a door prize and cranking up the jukebox.

On Saturday morning we headed to Beta Nu – Kokomo in the Colt’s bus with 12 members aboard and 4 other couples following in their vehicles. When we arrived we had a great breakfast waiting for us. We had a few drinks and socialized for a while then headed north with three couples from Kokomo and two couples from Danville for our next stop, Lambda – Peru. The folks here had a meat & cheese tray and vegetable tray ready for us. Again we had a few drinks and socialized for a while then headed north for our third stop, Delta Nu – Plymouth. These folks had ham & beans, cornbread and a variety of food waiting for us. Once again we had a few drinks and socialized before heading north to our fourth stop, Zeta Eta – Laporte. These folks had hamburgers and a variety of food waiting on us. And once again we had a few drinks and socialized before we moved on to our last stop, Gamma Lambda – Michigan City. These folks had chicken and a variety of food waiting on us. This being our last stop we socialized a little longer and had several drinks before finishing the night and heading to our hotel.

The Chapter Chase is a truly awesome time. The brotherhood that is experienced is amazing. The effort all the chapters put in for this event is amazing with all the food and “drinks” waiting for us and the hospitality that is extended. If you have never done this you are missing a great time and should try to experience it at least once. I want to thank Doug Leach for organizing the Chase.

I also want to thank all the brothers and sisters from each chapter for the food and hospitality and those members from Beta Eta, Gamma Theta and Beta Nu that made the journey north. If I were to talk about every stop in detail this article would not fit into the magazine as you experience something different at each chapter.

Thank you to all the Phi Delt chapters.

Merry Christmas and All That Jazz

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Merry Christmas and All That Jazz

By Bruce Smith, PDK National President 2018-19

Hello brothers and sweethearts. Sarah and I had a wonderful trip to Florida Alpha Lambda. We flew in early enough on Wednesday that I was able to attend their business meeting in the evening. President Chris Lawrence ran a great meeting.

The Chapter was putting the finishing touches on the Pasco County BBQ event for that coming weekend. Every brother at the meeting volunteered for a task to make sure everything was covered for the weekend. I was able to sit back and watch the brotherhood take on such a monumental task with ease. e brotherhood working together in unison made me very proud as National President.

This was my first trip out of Indiana since the National Convention. I cannot accurately describe the feeling one gets when they are treated with such respect and pampering. All of the brothers made sure that Sarah and I were well taken care of. It is almost embarrassing for a man like me. I have never been in a position to receive the truly kind, caring and loving treatment I received at Alpha Lambda. Thank you brothers, I really felt the brotherhood and the love from you all.

The cooking event on Saturday was unreal. Emir and PNP George Taylor will have a full report on the event. One of the bonuses of being the National President is that I got first dibs on the meats after the judges were done with their sampling. My God, those teams sure did cook up some of the best chicken, ribs, pork medallions and brisket I have ever eaten. I would recommend going to this event to any PDK brother or sweetheart. Again, thank you Florida Alpha Lambda for making this humble Indiana guy feel like a King for several days! You guys ROCK!

It was so sad to hear about the passing of PNP Greg Trombly. I spent five years in the SEC chairs with Greg. It would be hard to find anyone that loved to travel more than Brother Greg. His enthusiasm and love for Phi Delta Kappa was off the charts. His smiles and hugs will be missed by all who ever took the time to get to know him. R.I.P. my brother, my friend.

Christmas will almost be upon us when this magazine gets to your hands or computer screen. This is the time of year that families get together and share their love of each other over meals, drinks, caroling and present-opening. If you know of a brother or sweetheart that may be alone on Christmas please open your heart and your home to them and show them some love. God Bless you all and your families. And God Bless PDK!

My article next month I will fill you all in on our trip to the Hospitality Chapter in Meridian Mississippi. I know the brothers and sweethearts will show us a great time. I love traveling to PDK events and meeting old friends and making new ones. What could be better than that?

Bruce Smith

PDK National President 2018-19

president@phideltakappa.org

Welcome to the new PDK Website!

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Hello Phi Delta Kappa brothers and sweethearts!  We are proud to announce the official launch of the newly designed Phi Delta Kappa official website.  Your patience has been truly appreciated and hopefully the wait was worth it.

The site has been redesigned to offer many new features which you will hopefully find useful, and entertaining as well.  There is the main PDK website, phideltakappa.org, which gives information about our organization, and provides the public with information about not only what PDK is and what we are about, but also information on Chapter Hall rentals and the charities and causes we support.

Please take some time to tour the new site and the features it has to offer.  If you have any comments, suggestions or something isn’t working right on the site, please don’t hesitate to click on Contact PDK, use the drop down menu and choose editor@phideltakappa.org and share your thoughts.

Proud to be a Phi Delt!

Greg Taylor

Webmaster and Magazine editor