Southern Appalachian Alumni Chapter
Southern Appalachian Alumni Chapter (Founded 9 July 2012) is an alumni chapter centered in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Chapter includes alumni from northeast Tennessee, southwest Virginia, southeast Kentucky, and northwest North Carolina.
Contents
Chapter History
Founding
Charter members of SAAC, as per their petition to National Council:
Note: All of the above Brothers are alumni members of the Epsilon Xi Collegiate Chapter.
The Active Chapter
2016 Officers:
- President - Jillian Alexander
- Vice President - Josh Moore
- Secretary - Tasha Ferrell
- Treasurer - Chris Dean
- Recruitment Coordinator - Joanne Lamb
Current SAAC Brothers
Past Chapter Presidents
- Ryan Alexander: 2012 to August 2014
- Joanne Lamb: August 2014 to December 2014
- Josh Moore: 2015
- Jillian Alexander: 2016 to present
Chapter Events & Activities
Recurring Events
Hershey Bar War
Starting in 2013, SAAC decided to assist a project of two of their Members, Ryan Alexander and Jillian Alexander. Ryan and Jillian are members of the Board of Directors for Mission of Hope - Philippines. The project that they decided to take on was to collect Hershey chocolate bars for the working students providing them with a sweet treat, in addition to the supplies brought by the Mission of Hope team, and often a source of food for the day. In efforts to collect the most Hershey bars for the cause, they decided to have a friendly competition with the local Collegiate Chapter Epsilon Xi. The Chapter who collects the most Hershey bars during the allotted time won bragging rights and additional PR via the Mission of Hope - Philippines. Other Brothers from around the nation are encouraged to participate as well. Alumni Members may donate bars toward SAAC's total and Collegiate Members may donate bars toward Epsilon Xi's total.
Totals (Winners of the war are bolded):
2013: Total Bars: 596 Epsilon Xi - 251 SAAC - 345
2014: Total Bars: 486 Epsilon Xi - 262 SAAC - 224 Note: Epsilon Xi Chapter would have won this year's war if bars were turned in by the deadline.
2015: Total Bars: 917 Epsilon Xi - 392 SAAC - 525
2016: Total Bars: 828 Epsilon Xi - 569 SAAC - 259
Current Year's Events
January 2016: SAAC Members gathered at Ming's restaurant for a meeting and for a service event. Each Member brought supplies to be sent to former SAAC Member, Kristina Alexander, to donate to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Also at this event, Brothers were able to send thank you cards to anyone they wanted to thank as part of January's Centennial activity.
February 2016: SAAC had a social event by watching the Super Bowl at Ryan and Jillian's house. Even though most in attendance were non-SAAC Members, all who attended had a lot of fun socializing, eating, and watching the game/commercials.
March 2016: March was a scholarship month for SAAC. Becca, Canaan, and Ryan got together for lunch and watched a civil war re-enactment at the Tipton-Haynes Historical Site. They learned a lot!
April 2016: Since so many SAAC Members are animal lovers, the April service event was held at the Washington County Animal Shelter after lunch and Chapter meeting at Mellow Mushroom. Brothers had several opportunities to interact with the animals of the shelter. Most Brothers took to giving loving affection to the dogs, many which were not allowed outside of their cages due to their breed, walking dogs in the outside area, and cleaning some of the doggie messes. Other Members tended to the cats by emptying litter boxes, brushing the cats, and playing with them in the playrooms. The last task of the event was bathing two very large dogs in the shelter’s grooming room. This took several Brothers to get the dogs in the tub, lather them up, rinse them off, and drying them with towels and hair dryers. It was quite a feat, but it was well worth the dog kisses!
May 2016: SAAC's May social event was a smaller event due to its Members traveling for the holiday weekend. A few Members gathered at the local movie theater to watch The Jungle Book and share an enormous amount of popcorn (2 buckets and a medium bag). After the movie, they went to Jack's City Grille for dinner and great fellowship. Although it was a small turnout, they had a lot of fun for this fellowship event.
June 2016: For SAAC's June scholarship event, Members met at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. Members enjoyed a hardy lunch and explored the park's attractions. One of the highlights of the event was taking the SkyRail up to the top of Stone Mountain and looking at the views of the surrounding area. It was truly breathtaking.
July 2016: SAAC had two events in July. The first event was to celebrate the 4th Founder's Day. Members traveled to Asheville, NC and spent the day on the French Broad River by Zen Tubing. After a four hour float, they went for a much needed meal before traveling back to Tennessee. The second event was a service event held in Kingsport. Members gathered to paint playground equipment that had been sun damaged in two of Kingsport's mini parks. As usual, Members ate lunch together after spending a couple of hours upgrading the playgrounds.
Event Archive
By Year:
By Tripod
Notable Alumni
SAAC would like to thank all of those individuals who signed the charter creating this awesome Alumni Chapter!
- Ryan Alexander - Vice President of Alumni Development (2014 to present)
- Josh Moore - Founder of Eta Theta Chapter in Spring 2016
Grand Chapter Delegates
- 2012: Ryan Alexander (Delegate), Joanne Lamb (Alternate)
- 2013: Ryan Alexander (Delegate), Joanne Lamb (Alternate)
- 2014: Ryan Alexander (Delegate), Joanne Lamb (Alternate)
- 2015: Josh Moore, Tasha Ferrell, Joanne Lamb, Jillian Alexander
- 2016: Josh Moore (Delegate), Chris Dean (Alternate)
Chapter Honors & Awards
- 2013 National Hazing Prevention Photo Contest Winner - Alumni Chapter Division
