Post by icebraka on Jul 27, 2010 11:21:45 GMT -5
www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/25/596652/omega-men-are-about-our-people.html
Buy Photo
COREY LOWENSTEIN - clowenst@newsobserver.com
From left, Willie Cooper of Newnan, Ga., Dr. Matt Smith of Atlanta and Cedric Luckey of Columbia, S.C., spent the morning doing community service.
Email Print Order Reprint
Share: Yahoo! Buzz
Text
tool name
close x
tool goes here
BY THOMASI MCDONALD - Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- Omega Psi Phi, one of the nation's most celebrated fraternities, took over downtown Raleigh this weekend for fun and fellowship.
Moore Square became "Omega Village" Saturday, awash in the fraternity's purple and gold colors. A few thousand Omega men and family members from across the country - spending nearly a week in Raleigh for the fraternity's 76th Grand Conclave - shared food and drink under a broiling sun.
"We fed the homeless - and even the people who were driving past saw what was happening and got out of their cars to come eat with us," said Charles Hayden, a 1974 graduate of N.C. Central University who owns an investment company in New York. "We are about our people, man!"
Acai Berry EXPOSED: Houston
Acai Berry EXPOSED: Houston
Houston Warning: Health Reporter Discovers The Shocking Truth!
SHOCKING: 2010 Honda Civic for $1,732.09
SHOCKING: 2010 Honda Civic for $1,732.09
SPECIAL REPORT: High ticket items are being auctioned for an incredible 90% off!
Houston: Local Mom Makes $77/hr Online!
Houston: Local Mom Makes $77/hr Online!
Unemployed Mom Makes $6,397/Month Working Online! Read How She Did It.
Quantcast
Visitors sipped cold drinks under shady oak trees and purchased everything from fraternity regalia to shaved ices at vendors' stalls. Others lined up to grub on ribs, chicken wings, hot dogs and burgers while a whole pig lay on a mammoth grill.
Fun and fellowship were only part of the reason why the fraternity descended on Raleigh last week. Omega Psi Phi, founded at Howard University in 1911, lived up to its creed of community service Saturday morning when more than 100 members showed up at the Garner Road YMCA to give it a makeover and a paint job.
The real work of the convention will occur this week, when the fraternity elects officers and reviews bylaws and policies.
The African-American fraternity may also take a public position on the Wake County school board's decision to drop its diversity policy for pupil assignment. The change has divided Wake parents, disrupted school board meetings and led to arrests and demonstrations while receiving national attention.
"The fraternity may call for a boycott," said Keith Sutton, an Omega man and Wake school board member who opposed the board majority's action. "The brothers are in support of me and the issue as well."
The fraternity kicked off its conclave Thursday with a meeting of its Supreme Council and the start of a Youth Leadership conference at St. Augustine's College. Then followed a day-long cookout at Moore Square on Friday, purple-and-gold dances at the downtown Marriott and the Raleigh Convention Center, and a midday parade down Fayetteville Street on Saturday.
Elton Hardy of Raleigh, an NCCU graduate and Omega member for 20 years, arrived at Omega Village just before 7 a.m. Saturday. In his Chevy S-10 truck he had nine racks of ribs, five 40-pound cases of chicken wings, and his own seasonings and cooking utensils. A frat brother who works on a farm brought Hardy a pig to cook as well.
Young Omega men stripped off their purple shirts under a broiling sun and "stepped" to a funk music beat, their gold boots stomping the ground and raising clouds of dust.
"It's a lot more to it than what you see," said Jasper Spirer, 21, a college senior who traveled with 29 of his fellow brothers from Hattiesburg, Miss., for his first ever conclave.
Hardy, who had a gold crown perched atop of his head, said the founders' purpose in starting the fraternity is part of the organization's cardinal principles, perseverance and uplift.
"They were trying to get like-minded men on a black college campus to come together," Hardy said. "This was during a time when the entire black race was looked down upon. The black man had to persevere and uplift their other brothers."
Hardy and other members of the frat said the organization promotes service to the community. They talked about mentoring young people in trouble with the law, tutoring youngsters in preparation for college, and conducting health and voter registration drives and neighborhood cleanups.
David Stradford, 62, an Omega who pledged in 1968 at D.C. Teachers College, finished off a paper plate of chicken wings, wiping his thumbs with a paper napkin.
"We're about the community. People who are not in the frat, people coming over from the Salvation Army to eat. That's what it's all about," Stradford said
The Greater Raleigh Visitors and Convention Bureau estimates that the fraternity's visit will generate about $7 million for local businesses, and they have described the Omega Psi Phi visit as the largest convention the city has ever hosted.
Sutton compares it to the CIAA Tournament that left Raleigh and moved to Charlotte several years ago. The Omega man also thinks that other black fraternities and sororities will observe the Omega experience in Raleigh and may have their conventions here in the near future. Sutton said in tough economic times smaller cities like Raleigh are much more affordable than say, Los Angeles.
"And not just the Greeks, but other organizations like the National Urban League, the NAACP and the Church of God in Christ." Sutton said. "They will look at how things went with this convention, and say, 'Hey, maybe we need to take a look at Raleigh.' "
Read more: www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/25/596652/omega-men-are-about-our-people.html#ixzz0uttDFisL
Buy Photo
COREY LOWENSTEIN - clowenst@newsobserver.com
From left, Willie Cooper of Newnan, Ga., Dr. Matt Smith of Atlanta and Cedric Luckey of Columbia, S.C., spent the morning doing community service.
Email Print Order Reprint
Share: Yahoo! Buzz
Text
tool name
close x
tool goes here
BY THOMASI MCDONALD - Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- Omega Psi Phi, one of the nation's most celebrated fraternities, took over downtown Raleigh this weekend for fun and fellowship.
Moore Square became "Omega Village" Saturday, awash in the fraternity's purple and gold colors. A few thousand Omega men and family members from across the country - spending nearly a week in Raleigh for the fraternity's 76th Grand Conclave - shared food and drink under a broiling sun.
"We fed the homeless - and even the people who were driving past saw what was happening and got out of their cars to come eat with us," said Charles Hayden, a 1974 graduate of N.C. Central University who owns an investment company in New York. "We are about our people, man!"
Acai Berry EXPOSED: Houston
Acai Berry EXPOSED: Houston
Houston Warning: Health Reporter Discovers The Shocking Truth!
SHOCKING: 2010 Honda Civic for $1,732.09
SHOCKING: 2010 Honda Civic for $1,732.09
SPECIAL REPORT: High ticket items are being auctioned for an incredible 90% off!
Houston: Local Mom Makes $77/hr Online!
Houston: Local Mom Makes $77/hr Online!
Unemployed Mom Makes $6,397/Month Working Online! Read How She Did It.
Quantcast
Visitors sipped cold drinks under shady oak trees and purchased everything from fraternity regalia to shaved ices at vendors' stalls. Others lined up to grub on ribs, chicken wings, hot dogs and burgers while a whole pig lay on a mammoth grill.
Fun and fellowship were only part of the reason why the fraternity descended on Raleigh last week. Omega Psi Phi, founded at Howard University in 1911, lived up to its creed of community service Saturday morning when more than 100 members showed up at the Garner Road YMCA to give it a makeover and a paint job.
The real work of the convention will occur this week, when the fraternity elects officers and reviews bylaws and policies.
The African-American fraternity may also take a public position on the Wake County school board's decision to drop its diversity policy for pupil assignment. The change has divided Wake parents, disrupted school board meetings and led to arrests and demonstrations while receiving national attention.
"The fraternity may call for a boycott," said Keith Sutton, an Omega man and Wake school board member who opposed the board majority's action. "The brothers are in support of me and the issue as well."
The fraternity kicked off its conclave Thursday with a meeting of its Supreme Council and the start of a Youth Leadership conference at St. Augustine's College. Then followed a day-long cookout at Moore Square on Friday, purple-and-gold dances at the downtown Marriott and the Raleigh Convention Center, and a midday parade down Fayetteville Street on Saturday.
Elton Hardy of Raleigh, an NCCU graduate and Omega member for 20 years, arrived at Omega Village just before 7 a.m. Saturday. In his Chevy S-10 truck he had nine racks of ribs, five 40-pound cases of chicken wings, and his own seasonings and cooking utensils. A frat brother who works on a farm brought Hardy a pig to cook as well.
Young Omega men stripped off their purple shirts under a broiling sun and "stepped" to a funk music beat, their gold boots stomping the ground and raising clouds of dust.
"It's a lot more to it than what you see," said Jasper Spirer, 21, a college senior who traveled with 29 of his fellow brothers from Hattiesburg, Miss., for his first ever conclave.
Hardy, who had a gold crown perched atop of his head, said the founders' purpose in starting the fraternity is part of the organization's cardinal principles, perseverance and uplift.
"They were trying to get like-minded men on a black college campus to come together," Hardy said. "This was during a time when the entire black race was looked down upon. The black man had to persevere and uplift their other brothers."
Hardy and other members of the frat said the organization promotes service to the community. They talked about mentoring young people in trouble with the law, tutoring youngsters in preparation for college, and conducting health and voter registration drives and neighborhood cleanups.
David Stradford, 62, an Omega who pledged in 1968 at D.C. Teachers College, finished off a paper plate of chicken wings, wiping his thumbs with a paper napkin.
"We're about the community. People who are not in the frat, people coming over from the Salvation Army to eat. That's what it's all about," Stradford said
The Greater Raleigh Visitors and Convention Bureau estimates that the fraternity's visit will generate about $7 million for local businesses, and they have described the Omega Psi Phi visit as the largest convention the city has ever hosted.
Sutton compares it to the CIAA Tournament that left Raleigh and moved to Charlotte several years ago. The Omega man also thinks that other black fraternities and sororities will observe the Omega experience in Raleigh and may have their conventions here in the near future. Sutton said in tough economic times smaller cities like Raleigh are much more affordable than say, Los Angeles.
"And not just the Greeks, but other organizations like the National Urban League, the NAACP and the Church of God in Christ." Sutton said. "They will look at how things went with this convention, and say, 'Hey, maybe we need to take a look at Raleigh.' "
Read more: www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/25/596652/omega-men-are-about-our-people.html#ixzz0uttDFisL
"They get two Roos and a snap." ~ perroloco{=}http://s2.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif{/=}{=}http://s2.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif{/=}
?? 