Hello? Is anyone home?

A disconnected brother sent this message to several of his friends. We got it by the usual "over the transom" method.

SO you call 1-800-353-1901 and don't know who you want to talk to or you go to voice mail and your question could be answered by someone else on staff. In the past you would dial 1 for the receptionist and ask who ever picked up (if it wasn't Douglas) "Is anyone in the building today?

I need to talk to someone about ..."

Try this today and you get a generic answering service who doesn't know (or care who you are) and only flips your call to someone... if they are there, lucky you. If they aren't there you go to voice mail.

Great customer service! Thanks Craig! Save a few more bucks that he can hire another person from Richmond to build the empire... hmmm maybe he needs a VCU sorority woman to be Director of Malcontents.

Normally we would have let this pass, but we had the exact same experience last week when trying to find out if HQ was aware of the hurricane that passed over Lamar and U of Houston. Our power and internet were out so we did not know who to try to reach by telephone. It was voice mail hell, then some answering service that had no idea what a "Director of Chapter Services" is. We were finally contacted (the next day) by Gary Huff, who had apparently been pressed into "storm duty." He was able to assure us that HQ was indeed aware and informed, and the members accounted for.

In the last year or so we have seen the departure of long-time employees such as "Debit" Wester, Douglass McRaney, and this past Friday it was Barbara Shanahan. In their place are lots of new faces with fancy titles. But where is the service? Total staffing at HQ has grown much faster than the undergraduate manpower. Have the chapters experienced a comparable growth in services?

TX Delta Chapter Counselor Checks in

This report from TX Delta(Univ. of Houston) CC Don Heard to Bill McCausland(DG) is a few days late in posting, but then we have been "otherwise engaged." It is still timely though and has good information.

Mark --

The Brothers of Texas Delta are fine, all of the Brothers spent the hurricane with their families or with other Brothers and their families during the storm. The chapter home has no damage in reports from one University staff member. The Greater Houston area (16 counties) , 95% of it is still without power as of Sunday morning. Major transmission lines from the ERCOT grid from the power plants are down. We are hoping to have power back in the next few days, but that is a day by day matter.

Some Brothers parents homes have sustained damage. Our AVC Treasurers parents home in Seabrook, Texas had two feet of water. The water is going down. There is a curfew from 9 PM until 6 AM until next Saturday. Once power is restored, the service stations will open... that will be a huge step back to normalcy.

I have been in regular communication with the chapter leadership. Recruitment will take a major hit since the economic impact of this to a huge portion of SE Texas. The University was not flooded like it was in TS Allison in 2001 that closed the University for months ala Katrina to our Brothers to the east.

Brothers wishing to donate should donate to the American Red Cross for Hurricane disaster relief. Our scholarship needs will be substantial based on the people that may be without work (STUDENTS). Donations may be directed to the Texas Delta "Chapter Fund" in the SigEp Educational Foundation.

We know we will be providing scholarships to our students that need some financial assistance. The University has pledged to work with students who have financial aid, but that is so limited.

The Brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon did so much to help out our neigbhors in New Orleans after their devastation in 2005. If you can make a donation to the Red Cross or the Edcational Foundation... you will be helping.

Our Brothers in Beaumont may have damage also. They had received substantial damage from HURR RITA in 2005 that followed shortly on the heals of HURR KATRINA. I have tried to reach Brother Lamar Roach without success. I hope he and our Brothers at Lamar University are safe and well.

Great news sources about the recovery operations can be seen on:

• http://www.chron.com/ Houston Chronicle,
• http://www.ktrk.com/ ABC affiliate,
• http://www.galvnews.com/ Galveston newspaper,
• http://www.khou.com/ CBS affiliate,
• http://www.thedailycougar.com/ U Houston campus newspaper,
• http://www.uh.edu/ University newspaper.
• http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ Beaumont newpaper,
• http://www.kfdm.com/ Beaumont TV station.

Thanks everyone for your prayers.

Keep tuned to the www.sigepblog.org Red and Purple Blog for updates locally through our on the spot blogger, Brother Bryce Giesler of TN Alpha once his power is restored. Funny thing he works for the power provider for most of the Houston area. I bet he is working in the field with the other thousands of employees. Reliant and Texas New Mexico employees go to the field when an incident like this happens... accounting, finance, etc are out in the field do things to provide support to the crews in the field. They also work at night for long shifts trying to get our power back on. They are indeed angels as was described by one Houston resident on the web broadcast.

In Phi,
Don Heard, Houston 93
Chapter Counselor, Texas Delta RLC

Actually Don, You really do not want me working in the field. The entire Gulf Coast could be blacked out if that were to happen!

Report from Houston

Bryce Reports in from Powerless Houston

Wordjunky and Flora the Red Menace have checked in and are OK in Houston. The entire city is without power and there is no timeline for restoration of that power. He reports that in his area they did not experience flooding, but the rain and winds did lots of damage. He and Victoria went out and did a circle of the area just to see firsthand what had happened and found literally damage everywhere and lots of downed trees and powerlines.

Have we heard from all of the chapters in the path of the hurricane? I do not recall any news from Lamar to date? Has anyone checked on that chapter?