Help Out Some Brothers In Need

My fraternity doesn't have an awful lot of on-campus houses, but the one at illinois Wesleyan has been there for decades. So I was quite dismayed to read over the weekend that their house fell victim to a fire last week:

A fire early Sunday morning at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity heavily damaged the rear section of the three-story building, but all 15 residents escaped unharmed.

The university has been able to find alternative housing for all the students, said Darcy Greder, assistant dean of student affairs, who met with the students.

“I started the meeting by saying ‘I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is the fire, but the good news is we’re all here to talk about it,” Greder said.

The students awoke to the sound of smoke alarms about 2:30 a.m. Sunday and were able to evacuate the building at 303 E. Chestnut St.

Capt. Gary Shuska of the Bloomington Fire Department said firefighters arriving on the scene went through all three floors to make sure all the students had escaped.

“The fire apparently started somewhere in the rear basement, but it spread through the walls into the third floor,” Shushka said, “Smoke got up into the third, but the fire was mostly contained to the basement and first floor,” he said.

More information here (and do your best to ignore about half the commenters on both posts, who try to lump our organization in with other stereotypcial Greek organizations--"those rich frat boys got what they deserved," etc.).

And if you'd like to help them:

Illinois Wesleyan University has established an aid fund for the Alpha Lambda Chapter's recovery. Donations are accepted as follows:

Make check payable to "Illinois Wesleyan University" and write "Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Aid Fund" on the memo line.

Mail the check to:
Illinois Wesleyan University
1312 Park Street
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900

I wish you all the best, my brothers; a lot of us across the country are with you in spirit.