25 Alpha Rho Chapter Alumni Brothers Raise $25,000 To Help Restore MLK Chapel At Morehouse College -
Once again, Alpha Rho answers the call and leads the way! Twenty-five alums of Morehouse College's Alpha Rho Chapter came together to donate twenty-five thousand dollars to the college in celebration and recognition of the 20th Anniversary of their initiation into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. through the Alpha Rho chapter seated at Morehouse.
This group of alumni who are referred to as the “Intrepid 25" reside all over the country and excel in various professions with the unifying factors for this group of men being Morehouse College and their beloved fraternity.
The Intrepid's $25,000 donation was made in the name of the "Chairishing Campaign" designed to help renovate the historic Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. In honor of their donation, there will be 25 individually engraved seats inside the chapel featuring the names of all 25 donors.
“In maintaining the high ideals of our fraternity and alma mater, the objective was to collectively give back to Morehouse College, the institution that introduced us and forever bonded us. It is our hope that our line initiative will spark a desire for other groups across all fraternities to give back collectively,” said Ahuacan D. DeGruy -- a member of the Morehouse class of 2000 who served as Chairman of this campaign.
(Pictured above -- Brothers Ahuacan D. DeGruy, Campaign Chairman and Henry Allen Stewart, Alpha Phi Alpha National, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer)
The opportunity to support the chapel's renovation and have a seat engraved with the donors name is not exclusive to this particular crowd sourcing effort. According to the college, through the “Chairishing” MLKing Chapel Seat Campaign, alumni, corporations, foundations, fraternal organizations, parents and friends of the College can name a seat in the celebrated Chapel in honor of themselves, family members, businesses, or the memory of loved ones.
The Martin Luther King International Chapel and its adjacent plaza hold special significance to all Alpha Phi Alpha Men at Morehouse. Dr. King is a 1948 graduate of the college and a 1952 initiate of the fraternity via Sigma chapter in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1998, neophyte members of the chapter have presented their "probate show" along the sprawling MLK Chapel plaza under the watchful eye of a 25-foot tall statue of alumnus King.
(The Intrepid 25 during initiation on Saturday, March 27, 1999)
Alpha Rho -- as a group -- takes the concept of friendly competition very seriously. As word circulated through the ranks of the 812-member alumni brotherhood, another pro-active pledge group also made their mark in the campaign to restore MLK Chapel. The twenty Morehouse Men who comprise Fall 2004's Imperious 20 have secured a signature seat in the chapel in their group name, and now challenge the other 55 active-era Alpha Rho lines meet them with checks in hand, before June 1, 2019.
(Pictured above -- Alpha Rho "Chairishing" challenge group leader Brian Lee Shields, left, and members of the Imperious 20 together in 2014)
"Morehouse has done so much for us and Alpha Rho, the least we can do is financially support the college that kept our hearts under fraternal unity," stated Imperious 20's Brian Lee Shields. "I challenge all Alpha Rho lines to step up and purchase at least one chair on behalf of your line, thereby letting the entire campus know that the Alphas take care of their own," Shields added.
The Intrepid 25 plans to continue their anniversary celebration activities with events and other fundraisers through the summer at the fraternity’s general convention in Las Vegas and culminate their activities at Morehouse's homecoming in late October, 2019.
The Brothers of the Intrepid 25 were initiated into the Alpha Rho Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. on March 27, 1999. Members, in order of line number, are Stevie B. Hamilton, Jr., Jonathan Wilkins, Jacob Ennis Qualls III, Timothy Harris, Darian Tarver, Alfred C. Dunn II, Jason Jones, Kelly Miller Smith III, Chauncey Chester, Chester White II, Patrick Thompson, Kyle Anders, Henry Allen Stewart, Jehu R. Eaves III, Gerald J. Roper, Jr., Maurice Cooper II, John Baiyewu, Kennard L. Garrett, Patrick Carter III, Andre Weathers, Jr., Robert Percy Williams, Garreth J.W. Warren, Amin S. Aleem, Seth W. Pickens and Ahuacan D. DeGruy.
