In what has now become an annual fundraising event, organized by Pi Kappa Alpha Inter/National Fraternity (PiKA Memphis), the PIKE Now Chapter Challenge (PIKE Now) for 2023 has come to a close with a record amount of dollar donations.
PIKE Now was initially created in 2020 as a fundraising event to deal with the negative effects of the COVID 19 virus on PiKA chapters across the nation. The success of that event and subsequent events warranted a 2023 PIKE Now. The donations received will provide PIKE University scholarships, bolstering Chapter Endowment Funds (CEF) for silent chapters to use after recolonization, and to fund PiKA initiatives and programs intended to develop personal and professional improvements in individual members. PiKA promotes members to develop lifelong fraternal friendships, create a culture of health and safety in PiKA chapters, promote DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) within PiKA chapters, and achieve operational excellence in our chapters.
PIKE Now 2023 set a personal goal to raise $450,000. With 197 chapters participating, $524,205 was raised, an increase of $115,000 above the total for 2022. Donations sent in by 28 Beta Pi brothers and two friends of Beta Pi totaled $13,142. This total ranked third among all chapters. Bruce Wolfson, Beta Pi ’71, ambassador/fundraiser for Beta Pi, was given credit for producing $12,469 in donations. His total ranked third of all the ambassadors/fundraisers.
Thanks to the generous support of our donors, Beta Pi received certain awards. Beta Pi was one of twenty chapters to receive a free 3-night stay at the Historic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, for the Chapter Executives Conference in January 2024. In addition, Beta Pi was one of nine chapters to receive a free hotel stay at the Omni Hotel in Oklahoma City for the PiKA International Convention in August 2024.
Beta Pi’s total donations will be split evenly between PIKE University scholarships and PiKA Memphis fraternity programming. Those Beta Pi Brothers who so generously contributed toward the success of PIKE Now are:
Mark Bodner ’79 Joel Catania ’71 Morty Cohen ‘65
David Edman ’73 Thomas Fogarty ’81 Lawrence Gordon ‘72
Mitchell Karig ’76 Jeff Kaufman ’80 Jeffrey Kirstein ‘97
Joel Levine ‘’70 Scott Lohmann ’75 Harvey Mackler ‘72
David Meyer ’76 Adam Michaels ’97 Eric Morgenstern ‘81
Howard Myers ’59 Richard Myers ’69 Fred Rubin ‘80
Gary Sachs ’74 Bill Scott ’76 Stanley Serocca ‘66
Jeffrey Serota ’85 Edeward Shamy ’74 Robert Stavis ‘81
Richard Sussman ’69 Justin Wang ’22 Ken Widelitz ‘69
Bruce Wolfson 71
Friends of Beta Pi who contributed: James L. Green and Michele Acker
