Building The Dream – The New Indiana ETA Sig Ep House
Newsletter October 2024
Life and Family Humbles Me… Family and Friends are the Cure 
I had to step away for a while, but now I am back and motivated as ever to press on and get the project completed. Let’s update you on the three key elements to getting this done: the financing, the construction and the donations.
Ground Breaking Ceremony: Yes, I know it might have been a bit premature but when we set the date for the Ground Breaking Ceremony we were on a more aggressive timeline. In any case, on August 4, 2024 at the site of the new house (adjacent to the existing house) officials from Indiana Tech, members of the AVC, alumni, active chapter brothers, and friends of Indiana Eta participated in the ceremony. We dug up some dirt and found it to be excellent dirt for building the new house. Lots of pictures playing in the dirt to kick-off the project.
Pictured: Don Lomont, John Sims, Chris Brown
Dan Stoker (Senior VP of Student Affairs), Chris Hoff, Don
Update on the Loan: Sig Ep National Housing (SENH) has committed to a 20-year mortgage for the new Sig Ep House in the amount of $750K which is $100K short of what we requested to build the house of our dreams. Our opportunity to use a local bank as a source for the construction loan got embroiled in excessive fees and high interest rates. We worked with SENH and jointly were convinced that it did not make sense (to go local). As a result, SENH has agreed to take on the construction loan as well at a 7% interest rate. There are some conditions: the most important being that they want us to have another loan to cover the $100K; this loan would only be necessary if we cannot come up with enough money in donations to cover it. We are accepting the challenge.
Update on the Contractor: We have two contractors interested in building the house. We had preliminary discussions with each looking for ideas on how we might get to the budget planned for the house. The plan is to shed some of the “wished niceties” of the house in detail reviews of the contractor bids to get down to our budget. Obviously, we would prefer not to make these cuts and changes. However, without additional donations or pledges for donations this calendar year, we may have no other option. We requested final fixed price proposals (due October 14th) to get firm pricing from which to decide on a contractor. SENH has made a condition of the loan that they participate in the contractor selection process to give them high confidence that we complete construction of the house. We appreciate SENH involvement in the process.
We will complete the process and sign the contracts when we have high confidence that we have a loan and a contract that ensures success of our project – getting a new house for Indiana Eta Sig Ep.
Donations: Let’s recap what has happened in 2024. We have had $41,967.10 in donations via our new and preferred Sigma Phi Epsilon National Tax Deductible “Facility Fund”.
Continuing payments by alumni brothers fulfilling their pledges for the 2018 Capital Campaign through OmegaFi of $5,800.
New donations mailed directly to the AVC via check in the amount of $4,000.
New donations using our Indiana Eta website for credit card donations via PayPal and Stripe in the amount of $8,416.89.
This totals to $60,184 as of September 15th.
These donations are very, very much appreciated by those donors; let’s give them a hand for rising to the challenge. But (and there always is a but), we are likely to need as much as an additional $200,000 to get the kind of house with the quality expected for a new Sig Ep Fraternity House.
With your help, I know that we can get across the finish line…
The process is easy. Some donors are using the monthly plan rather than a one-time gift; others are just spreading out their donation over this year and next. Whatever works for you! You can set it up on the tax-deductible Sig Ep National website at: https://give.sigep.org/give/212206/#!/donation/checkout Use the pull-down tab to select IN Eta Facility Fund.
Next Steps: Once we have the contracts signed, I expect to lay out the timeline for building the house. Current plan is to finalize the contract by November 1st and work to have the house built for the Fall 2025 semester. We have asked the contractors for a projected timeline and we will see how well it fits this scenario.
Recognition of Donors to “Building The Dream” In the last newsletter I provided a list of donors that have contributed to building the new house. Thank you so much for your generous support and commitment. If your name is not on the list, send in a donation and I will update that list with new donations and new donors in a coming newsletter.
Information on how to make a donation via check follows:
By Mail: Mail a check made out to: SPE Educational Foundation with IN Eta Facility Fund in the Notes Section of the check and they will post it to our account.
Attn: Educational Foundation
Sigma Phi Epsilon
310 South Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220
Include Your Contact Information
Information on how to make a donation via credit card, bank check etc. can be found at this link: https://indianatech.sigep.org or you can always find us by Google – Indiana Eta Sig Ep … we should be right at the top of the page. We now recommend that when at that site, press the tab at “Donate” and it will take you to the Sig Ep National website where you can select “IN Eta Facility Fund” to provide a tax-deductible donation. Or for more information, pull down the menu and select the “Donating FAQ”. The FAQ tells you all the ways you can donate. You can pay by direct bank transfer, credit card, etc. You can do a one-time donation or if you are so inclined, we would appreciate a recurring donation in any amount. Whatever way works for you works for us.
If you have questions or want to just talk, please call me at (562) 714-8061 any time between 11 am and 8 pm EST.
Thanks for your support in our quest in Building the Dream. I would love to hear from each and every one of you.
Very much yours,
Donald J. Lomont ‘64
New House Committee Chair