Chris Welsh – ΟΠΟ

September 17, 2018September 17, 2018

Labor Day 2018 – One Upping Ourselves Again!

After 5 years of successful work weekends, I am running out synonyms to describe how awesome everyone involved is. All in, we raised $26,300. topping our goal by 8K, and last year’s total by almost 4K.

We had 134 Alumni donate, and 6 Alumni volunteers show up to help out.

The biggest news for this year, is our Roof Replacement project is fully funded and work is set to begin at the end of September. Big thanks to everyone who has donated over the past 5 years and to everyone involved with the logistics of the project. Be on the look out for updates as the work begins.

This year presented a number of unique challenges. We actually finished our planned tasks faster than expected, even though the weather was not overly cooperative.

Our main goal for this year was to resurface the entire driveway and parking lot with new stone. After some measuring, it was calculated that we would need 78 tons! Luckily the folks at Perishville stone and gravel were up to the task. Little Dan was gracious enough to go up a day early and meet the delivery driver on Friday. All in, they had to deliver 3 full dump trucks of stone.

When I arrived at 8:15 Saturday morning, the guys were already hard at work spreading the stone.

We worked up quite the appetite with all that shoveling and broke for lunch around 1. (Thanks to Fitzgerald Brothers Vending of Glens Falls for donating some beverages to support our caffeine habit.)

After lunch it was time to start tamping, so much tamping.

And more shoveling.

While some other folks started on our secondary projects.
We painted some more eaves, This year marks one full rotation around the house. (although, there are some spots that could use another coat already.)

As well as making some repairs to the circus porch decking before it was sanded and repainted.

We also threw out all the interior furniture that had become outdoor furniture over the years and purchased some actual patio furniture for the front and circus porches (not all pictured).

What was surprising, was we managed to finish almost all of this work on Saturday. It was good thing too, because it absolutely poured on Sunday.

Unfortunately, due to sustaining an injury Saturday evening, i was forced to leave early. As i hobbled toward the car Sunday morning, Alumni were leading the Actives in a vigorous cleaning of the kitchen to avoid the rain.

As another fund raising season ends, i would like to personally thank everyone that has donated and volunteered, We cannot do this without you.

Thank you to Terry -TZ- Moran for continuing to spearhead our fund raising campaigns. As well as Lew Blum and J.R. Augustine for lending Terry a hand this year.

Thank you to all our 2018 Alumni volunteers: Dan Rissacher, Tim Dammann, Chris Welsh, Logan Adams, Calvin Flood, and Canaan Nelson.

Thank You,
Chris Welsh ’06

September 5, 2017May 27, 2018

Labor Day 2017 – Another Record Breaking Year

2017 was another record breaking year. We absolutely crushed our goal of $18,000. At the time of this post, our total stands at $22,720 with donations still making their way to us. Simply amazing!!

This year, due to a scheduling conflict with the start of classes, work took place a week prior to Labor Day. As such we had a few less workers than previous years, but a fair amount was still accomplished.

We started with a little light yard work-pulling weeds, mulching beds, and disposing of a stump (a project we started last year).

While the yard was being tended to, some other brothers started on (the now time honored tradition of) painting eaves.

With the yard work complete, it was time for lunch.
(18 feet of sub – before and after a bunch of college guys got to it.)

Finally, it was on to the main task of the weekend – striping and painting the porch decking.

However the biggest news of the weekend is with this year’s fundraising nearly complete, we are now in a position to begin scheduling the roof repairs. Keep an eye out for more updates about this exciting news throughout the year.

We thank you all immensely and know we could not do this without your support. Thank you to all of the donors, all of the volunteers, and all of the families who continue to put up with our shenanigans year after year.

On behalf of Terry -TZ- Moran, The Alumni E-board, and the Active Chapter we sincerely appreciate your continued support of the Organization.

Thank You,
Chris Welsh ’06

September 12, 2016May 27, 2018

Labor Day 2016 – Another Rousing Success

Year after year we the brothers of OPiO continue to amaze me with their generosity, determination and hard work. 2016 was no different. We set a substantial goal, and everyone rose to the challenge.

3 months of campaigning
A googleplex of emails sent by TZ
25 breakfast sandwiches
6 cubic yards of mulch
23 shrubs
6 alumni volunteers
2 girlfriend volunteers
99 Donors
$18,525 raised

While all of those numbers are impressive, that last number is simply astounding.

This year’s work continued the focus of restoring the exterior beauty of our beloved 14 Leroy St.

A crew was set to task repairing and painting the eaves, windows, and other various around the house.

While others tackled the landscaping.

Finally, a last group set about repairing a section of front porch that had fallen victim to the elements.

Some seldom seen neighbors dropped by to see what was going on.

Something even more scarcely seen at OPiO stopped by to lend a hand,

while the guys took part in some good old fashion government work.

The crew manged to stay on budget for the weekend, keep all the work to $3,000. The results speak for themselves.
Awesome job guys!

Sticking to the $3,000 budget allowed us to bank just over $15,000 toward the roof replacement. Putting us well on our way to having that project completely funded. If you would like to know more about the roof replacement plans, please take a moment to read through them at the bottom of the Labor Day page.

With Labor Day 2016 behind us, we set our sites toward the coming school year, a great pledge class, continued roof replacement work, and of course Labor Day 2017.

We thank you all immensely, and know we could not do this without your support.
Thank you to all the donors, all the volunteers, and all the families that put up with our shenanigans year after year.

On behalf of; Terry -TZ- Moran, The Alumni Eboard, and the Active Chapter we sincerely appreciate your continued support of the organization.

Thank You
Chris Welsh ’06

March 1, 2016

Supporting our furry friends

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Morgan the cat.

The Active Chapter is participating in a Clarkson sponsored fundraiser to support the Potsdam Human Society. Our furry friends (and the actives) could really use your help. They are competing against other Greek houses and clubs to see who can raise the most.

If you would like to help, please head over to the Omicron Pi Omicron Team Page and donate today.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to active member Victor Mars (marsanvg@clarkson.edu) and he would be happy to assist.

–Who can say no to that face.

February 29, 2016

Relay For Life 2016

The Active Chapter is once again participating in the Relay For Life of Clarkson University on Friday, March 25, 2016.
They could really use your help in the fight against cancer!

If you would like to help, please head over to the Omicron Pi Omicron Team Page and donate today.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to active member Victor Mars (marsanvg@clarkson.edu) and he would be happy to assist.

January 13, 2016

Spring Alumni Weekend 2016

Greetings;

The 2016 Spring Alumni Weekend will be held from Friday, February 26th, 2016 to Sunday, February 28th, 2016.

This coincides with the first annual Clarkson “Cold Out, Gold Out” (COGO) Event. Clarkson will be holding numerous on campus activities. As well as providing transportation to/from some north eastern metropolitan areas and shuttle service around Potsdam for the weekend.

If you have not made it back up to OPiO in a while, now is the time to do so. Take advantage of the Clarkson sponsored transportation and coerce your fellow brothers to come relive a simpler time.

Look forward to seeing you.

Christopher “Head” Welsh

September 10, 2015May 27, 2018

Labor Day 2015 – Mission Accomplished!!!

We started out with one goal for the 2015 Labor Day Work Weekend, to out do 2014. I am happy to say we succeeded and then some.

I would like to start out by thanking all of the donors who made the great work we did possible. We destroyed our original fund raising goal of $3,500, then blew past our $10,000 stretch goal to a final total of $11,364.27. That is truly remarkable and shows what we can achieve together. There are too many donors to list here, 65 in total, but please know you have our sincerest thanks for your donations. A huge thank you goes out to everyone who challenged their fellow brothers to match their donations. This had a tremendous positive impact on the event. One cannot discuss the fund raising for these weekends without mentioning Terry -TZ- Moran. His tenacious E-Mail campaigns have been the backbone of our fundraising efforts (as well as the bane of everyone’s spam filters).

I would also like to thank all of our alumni volunteers for donating their time, sweat, and sanity (assuming they had any to begin with).

A special shout out goes to JR Augustine for his relentless work in finding a new stove for the kitchen, and it is a beauty! JR found the stove outside of Philly and also trailered it all the way up to Potsdam for us.

Also to Tim Dammann for once again leading our construction efforts. His tireless pre-event organization and breadth of knowledge has been key to the success of these weekends (I’m not sure that is the proper use for that tool).

Our original goal was to simply build on the great efforts of last year and continue repairing/painting down the sides of the house. Between the tremendous fundraising job and JR’s stove, We decided to doubled down and give the kitchen a much needed refresh as well. We decided to work on the kitchen as it is the main entryway into the house these days, and therefore the first thing the public and potential members see inside. In conjunction with the work done outside, it makes for quite a nice first impression.

The kitchen received new cabinets, counter tops, drop ceiling, moldings, stove, and one of the most through cleanings the house has ever seen. Anyone would be proud to call this their kitchen now.

Before:

Working:

After:

However, that is not to say we skimped on the originally planned work. Focusing on the north side of the house (facing the field), we painted (and repaired where possible) the eaves, window trim and basically anything that is not brick.

Before:

Working:

After:

You would think we would be done with all that, but there was still the Nick Bernal back stair challenge. Using the funds raised we replaced, patched, mudded, and sanded the back stairwell. The actives were hard at work painting it as the day drew to an end. Be sure to be on the lookout for the completed photos in the near future.

All in we spent just over $5,000 on the weekends work. Early on in the planning phase it became easily apparent that we could not wisely and effectively spend all the money raised in just one weekend. The remainder of the funds have been earmarked for the impending roof replacement. We are currently in the process of vetting contractors, getting quotes, and assessing different roofing material options. With a current extremely rough estimate of $30K, the remaining ~$6,000 from this weekend is a welcome addition to that ongoing fundraising effort.

I would also like to make note of a project the actives are taking on independently, which is a full rehab of the Twilight Zone. the project is still in the demo phase, but they are making good progress. If it turns out half as nice as the last room they rehabbed, the sun porch, it will be sure to be a sought after room. I will be adding a separate blog post in the near future regarding the work done in the sun porch for anyone who may have missed it.

Moving into the coming school year, there will be a heavy emphasis on the roof. While this work will be mainly done by a contractor, that is not to say we will not be actively planning Labor Day 2016. Our current list of goals include finishing the eave repair, and other exterior beautification projects such as new landscaping. We are also assessing the feasibility of rehabbing some of the other high visibility first floor rooms in need of repair, such as the bathroom off the kitchen and the pantry/coat room. If you have any suggestions for projects, or would like to take an active role in the planning process. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at Eboard@OmicronPiOmicron.com.

Labor Day 2015 was a rousing success. We will continue to grow this tradition in 2016 and beyond. We need alumni help in all arenas, whether you’re a skilled carpenter or don’t know what a Phillips head screwdriver is. The benefit to the structure of the house is greatly improved with alumni assistance. But more importantly, the presence of alumni willing to continue putting sweat into the brotherhood benefits the young men who are our active brothers and the fraternity as a whole. These weekends are just as much about bonding with and mentoring the active chapter as they are about repairing our beloved 14 Leroy st.

On behalf of; Terry -TZ- Moran, The Alumni Eboard, and the Active Chapter we sincerely appreciate your continued support of the organization.

Thank You

October 22, 2014

Dog for a Dog

Omicron Pi Omicron Fraternity raised $182.00 for PHS with a “Dog for a Dog” hotdog fundraiser!

Thank you guys for all your hard work!! They stand here with “Queeny” and “Snickers” our two new guinea pigs that are available for adoption. Rodney (our ferret) had to wiggle himself into the photo as well.

Potsdam Humane Society

September 19, 2014May 27, 2018

HUGE SUCCESS!!

It’s Official, the first annual Active Alumni Labor Day Work Weekend was a huge success.

We raised over $4000, blowing away our original goal of $2500, and had 30 workers between Actives and Alumni in attendance.

The goal of the weekend was to repaint the front porch. We accomplished that, and more.

Working from 9am to 8pm on both Saturday and Sunday, we were able to:

Straighten, reinforce, and tack the columns.
Scrape and repaint the entire portico.
With the use of boom lifts we were able to reach the higher areas, all the way up to the peak.

Some our toughest judges, our neighbors, even stopped by to compliment us on the work.

I truly can not thank Terry “TZ” Moran enough for spear heading this endeavor. As well as the actives for all their hard work, The Alumni who came up to help, and all the donors. This was a group effort among all of you, and the results speak for themselves.

Last week we saw what the actives can do by themselves. This week, we see what they can really accomplished with the support and guidance of the Alumni. This event shows the positive momentum we as an organization are striving for.

Ideas for next year are being discussed right now. If you have any suggestion, do not hesitate to let us know at Eboard@OmicronPiOmicron.

Regardless of what project we chose, I’m excited for next year.

Enjoy some photos of the progression of the project.

September 19, 2014September 19, 2014

Active Work Week 2014

Building on the great work done by the active membership before the 110 celebration.

The 2014 Active Work Week was a big success.

Starting outside, The overgrown ceder trees were removed from the front of the house. Luckily, the town is nice enough to pickup yard waste left on the curb. (whole trees included!) The photo of the front of the house, i will admit, leaves a little left to be desired. So be sure to check out my next post about the Active Alumni Labor Day Work Weekend to see it in all its glory.

After that, they moved to the driveway where the rotting landscape timbers were replaced, and the area primed for some new landscaping.

Moving inside, The Sun Porch had fallen on hard times due to a lack of proper exterior building materials and practices. The exterior was re-sided before the 110 celebration, so they turned their attention inward. With the interior demo completed, new framing and electrical were added.

Along with the standard cleaning that comes with a work week, the basement received some special attention. After many years of service, the Dungeon had succumb to the persistent moisture of the basement. The room was demoed, so the space could be re-purposed. Excess electrical was also tidied in the area. The entire basement received a good scrubbing as well as a pressure washing.

With the new floor space that had been gained, and something needing to be built to commemorate the week’s events. A new set of tables only seemed fitting.

All this work created a lot of debris, so on the final day they cleaned, filling the entire dumpster.

I would like to personally thank the active membership for their continued work on house.

Great work gentlemen, and good luck with the coming semester.