Kenneth Cheung's Alpha Phi Omega Universe

The Story of the 65th Anniversary T-shirts

By Kenneth Cheung
        For those people who are not familiar with what happened last semester, here is a summary. Alpha Phi Omega was founded in December 16, 1925 and spread though out the country. The service organization eventually reached San Jose on December 6, 1939, and the Gamma Beta Chapter was born. This chapter celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a reunion in Spring of 1990. In the organization's 60th year, a dedicated person by the name of Ernie Manfredini revived the chapter and it grew uncontrollably ever since.
        In 2004, the 65th Anniversary was coming up and members past and present were expecting something big to happen. To raise funds for this event, the 65th Anniversary Committee asked for donations from the alumni and we decided to sell 65th Anniversary t-shirts, with the official 65th Anniversary logo designed by now alumni Richwood Borja. We sold the shirts at $18, which was high, but everyone had the understanding that the proceeds would be used to fund the 65th Anniversary event. We eventually had 42 people who signed up to buy t-shirts by the deadline of November 15, 2004 (not everyone paid, though, so I will track them down later). I asked fellow brother Jose Barney Duran to order the t-shirts, since he knew a shirt printer who made the Gamma Beta Rush t-shirts.
        That was a big mistake. We thought that it would take 2 weeks for the company to produce the t-shirts. Jose informed us that we need at least a month to get the t-shirts. We had the push the deadline of ordering by November 11. Jose placed the order 3 weeks before December 6. They did not come in time for the 65th Anniversary. We did not even get the t-shirts before the end of the semester. By that time, we were all busy with final exams and could not worry about the t-shirts. After the semester, it was winter break, so most people went home, including me.
        Even if I were still in San Jose during the winter break, I still would not get the t-shirts. This was because the shirts were not completed and delivered until the middle of January. I came back to San Jose before the beginning of the Spring semester. Jose Duran was the Rush chairperson, so he was busy preparing to recruit new members into the fraternity. Since that was very important, I left Jose mostly alone and tried to make an appointment with him to pick up the t-shirts. I left a many messages into his cell phone (which he did not pick up for me). Jose was very busy and he also made himself busy. I called him and such, but got no response. I did not want to put much pressure on Jose since he helped us get the shirts in the first place.
        I finally got to go to his apartment to pick the box of t-shirts up, but it was not there. They were not there because his mother came to the apartment and cleaned Jose's room (it was a big mess, after all). Mrs. Duran thought that the t-shirts belonged to Jose and took them home to wash them or store them. Thus, I was without the shirts because they were in Soladad in the central valley taken by a mother with good intentions that were misunderstood.
        A week later Jose brought the t-shirts back. I continued to contact him. When I finally reached him again, he told me that he just came out of jail. It was the day after his birthday. Somebody falsely accused him of dealing with drugs, so the police brought a squad out to apprehend him. Three police cars drove up to him and the police surrounded him with weapons drawn. After booking Jose, a team of investigators raided his apartment and confiscated evidence that was suspicious, including the 65th Anniversary t-shirts. It will be a while for the San Jose City police to return it to Jose from the evidence room. Thus, we have to wait until t-shirts go through the legal process and returned to Jose.
        I apologize for those who purchased t-shirts. I take full responsibility for this. If you paid and now want a refund because you waited too long, then I will will comply.

03.26.2005