Hey Hey Y Hello everybody I’m welcome back to another episode of the male perspective I am your host Delana Reed and today today on this day I am so fortunate I have another brother of alpha F Alpha Fraternity Incorporated that took time out of his day to sit down and talk with
Me I have Brother Jay Watkins of beta mulanda from Salsberry North kakalaki North Carolina for those people not from the south um here he’s taking some time to talk to me uh today and we’re gonna learn about his chapter and some other things that he’s got going on
And I’mma pick his brain about a few other things but first and foremost as I always do I take a quick moment to pause say thank you to you sir for making time for me today time is a gift once we give it we can’t get it back so I truly
Appreciate you setting aside this time in your day to talk to me and with that sir welcome welcome to the show I appreciate it it’s honor to be here thank you so much so let’s talk about your chapter first of all I was uh roaming around your website being nosy
And I see you guys have been around for quite some time 1939 1939 1939 August 21st 1939 to be specific so please share some of the history uh of your chapter with us as we get started yes ma’am so uh as you said we were chared in 1939 uh we are the
155th House of alpha 5 Fraternity Incorporated uh yeah we’re house out of sbur North Carolina um our our charter members came together and decided that our area need to be served during that time um it was a lot of recent graduates that uh went on to do higher education
Upon graduation they moved to the area and there was no chapter to be affiliated with um and so boom um we we’re thankful to to those charter members um and I can name them you know T Allison Jr Hatcher a day James L hell Troy Johnson Howard W Miller uh and and
A lot of other great Brothers came together to make this make this possible and so um we did go through a l after the the charter occurred um we were very fruitful envirment for quite some time towards the end of the 1990s um early 2000s we did hit a gap um and the
Chapter kind of shut down that was nothing happening yeah so yeah and so we were brought back by our brother um brother Lamar Foster who came back and breathed life back into the baby land the chapter and here we are today here we are today and doing some things that we that
I’m sure our Jewels are our founding fathers very proud they only thought of yes ma’am and so we’re just happy to be be of service to our communities awesome awesome and as I was roaming around the website um and correct me if I’m wrong and you kind of alluded to this it seems
Like uh when it comes to your chap chapter Alpha F Alpha has truly passed the torch and most of the membership is younger in age yeah we we are now uh we have we have a really good blend though I will say we have a lot of of seasoned
Brothers that’s what I’ll call them season seasoned Brothers Well educated well-versed uh involved on National levels uh have been you know a part of very very important movements in what we call Anchor which is our uh which is the North Carolina Alpha Man Association which you know that’s what
We’re a part of and so so Alpha South is our region and so Alpha South is the PowerHouse of alpha uh any of my brothers that you meet with after this or before this you make sure you let them know that but we really we’re fortunate how those Brothers as a part
Of our chapter they’re so knowledgeable uh and US younger brothers and I’m me young in a sense of not even age but just in in membership we take a lot of pride in that and being able to reach out to them and get questions answered even if it’s
Something you know hey brother I was thinking about this this Rand question if we were in a meeting and this this happened you know it could be the sil thing and they’re very very patient uh and we love to pride ourselves on the fact that we we say that nobody’s a is
Bigger than anybody else’s we’re all one alpha and so it’s very very important uh for us to make sure that what’s being passed down is continuing to flow in the way that it should um and also that we reach up and we’re able to you know gain that information beautiful beautiful I I
Love it love it I have uh been around you guys for quite some times I’m one of them seasoned people that you were talking about so that’s the only way we get the work done that’s the only way we get it done we need we need the knowledge we need
The knowledge we get we can get out and do the work but sometimes we don’t know what we doing so need you need some experience you need some experience yes we do yes we do so let me um ask you because I like I said I was roaming around social media website and
Looking at uh some of the things you do I see that you uh in the past or currently have partnered with uh Rowan helping Ministries and salvation Army so just kind of explain what your chapter does to serve the community in your area what are some of the projects you guys
Are involved in oh so that’s a great question we do we do a lot we do a lot and I’m very very proud of my brothers uh and I’m gonna name drop here and there because I uh they’ve taken on very very important roles and made a lot of
Things as I said before come to life and before speaking on that I kind of want to touch on just moving back through like how we kind of went through that laps I came into the chapter in 2016 and I had oh you a baby I yeah I’m still
Young I’m still young in ch but I had so many ideas and things I wanted to do uh that quite frankly we couldn’t get done we didn’t have the numbers we didn’t have the okay Workforce we it wasn’t able to be done and so now I’m very very
Excited to see my brothers and and in particular the Roy helping Ministries again being a native of Solsbury North Carolina and our chapter being you know hous there it’s important for us to get back to the community but it’s very very important to me personally because uh I
See these people I grew up around these people I still go home I mean I only live an hour away so it’s my parents still live there my grandparents live there so you know it’s it’s it’s true to me and so uh brother Xavier SLO God
Bless him he he has been the ring leader the moving force in our partnership with Roy helping Ministries we’ve given back with them in ways of uh working with their food kitchen feeding the homeless or um feeding the Les fortunate during during the holidays and during the
Regular season uh just coming in and and you know being able to provide some smiling faces a couple of jokes here and there we love to crack jokes um and just being present and talking to the people hearing their story uh you know and kind of uh ministering to them in some way
Shape or form we also had the opportunity to uh they do uh housing processes where they kind of set individuals up that are experiencing you know housing insecurities oh okay yeah to bridge them into you know uh a new Independence and so they’ll house them put them on an allowance type rent
Situation so okay I got you yes ma’am so we went out to those properties that are located where their main facility is and uh we we stained the decks on the homes yeah so we went out there P stain stained defences uh I could tell some of my brothers never touched the touched
The paint brush say some college some college okay we got we got some manual labor manual labor what exactly some of us you know we we we we got it together at the end there so that was exciting we’ve also you know helped them sort clothes from their clothing drive and
Things like that so he has really spearheaded those projects again brother Xavier Sloan is just so thankful for him for creating that partnership that we see will be uh you know as long as they want us we want to be there and so we’re we’re just
Excited for that to to roll out and we we just pray for growth in the area okay awesome awesome see y’all I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t pick that up from read uh the looking over the website y y’all were making a comeback don’t call them a comeback yeah exactly we’re doing we’re
Doing a lot of things and so that’s that’s one thing that’s very very exciting is that partnership and again being boots on the ground I love the work I love the work and we all ain’t got no choice being an alpha man I mean that’s that’s you’re here to serve
You’re here to serve exactly exactly right so can’t wear a suit everywhere well let me talk you try yeah let me uh distinguish of alpha right yes ma’am so let me talk about one of the things that I have always known um Alphas to be involved with and that’s
The mentorship of the youth especially young boys and one of the things that comes to mind when I I think of you guys is there’s this piece of artwork it’s been around for years and it’s a picture of a a young boy staring in the mirror
And then on his reflection he sees it’s different versions but this one I’m G be talking about he he sees himself as an alpha man um what are some of the core areas that Alphas are known when it comes to the mentorship of young boys
And and what are some of the things that you guys do to kind of make sure they they do their journey and do it well it’s a great question um and so we do have a national Pro uh program through Alpha um go to high school go to college
Which is pretty much a mentoring program that is uh geared towards preparing those students to make that leap to college um I will Pat myself on the back here and I will say that 2016 I forget year was again coming to chapter 2016 uh when we have our regional
Conferences um we have we had the conference in Concord North Carolina which you know where that is it’s right between sberry and Charlotte and so uh I had I was recently over youth programming for our chapter specifically and we were co-hosting the the event right we were helping run it
So I know me some important people I know I thought I was let let me rub some shoulders here I will say that we were I wanted to do some type of youth program because every uh you know conference there’s a youth component okay ounc to me historically we hadn’t had the
Component so I’m you know I’m like let’s do it let’s do it let’s do it and keep in mind this is we got our our general President coming here so we’re this is this is real uh and so I partnered up with um two great brothers from the
Charlotte chapter baa new Lambda okay um and and we made it happen we had a I mean literally I think it was about 40 young men that came and we fed them and we had speakers and it was just exciting um and so that kind of drove my passion
To say you know what can we do at home in our home chapter to that great scale and so that kind of rote out to us partnering with a lot of different schools um we partnered with schools in Concord um a charter school in Concord where we had brothers that were working
At that school um we work with churches and most recently we’ve had uh kind of a mentorship component where we bring students into those events where we do the rowing heal Ministry so they can see how we give back right how we’re working um most exciting right now is that we
Are preparing to partner with uh the Salsbury graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Incorporated um to work with their bows um for their upcoming uh debutant ball so there are young men that are going to be working with uh their debutant the the uh organized plan
Is for us to come in and Mentor them and and do some things with them and so I you know we have a National Partnership with big brothers of America and things like that but again that local local aspect is very very important and so we
We we strive to and I can say you know transparently we haven’t struggled getting it done the struggle has been a lot due to consistency and so um you know youth are very very very uh attach driven and so our our gaps when we you
Know say a brother works at a school we partner with that school the brother relocates to another school it makes it harder on us to be able to get into the spaces and do the things we want to do and so now we’re really really challenging ourselves to
Figure out how we’re going to lock in um and excited I know Battle of the Bands is coming up in in Georgia our chap just made a very very generous donation to okay um communities and schools of brne County which is where Salsbury is uh in
Order for them to make that trip so we’ll be partnering with them three of our brothers will be traveling to Georgia to work with their students as they go on the college day and do the whole College thing the hcu college thing so the kids get to go so the kids
Get to go down there and see the everything get go see get to go see the drum Maia get to go see it all you know learn about some college uh College opportunities in the process and so uh our president you know brother Al Parker came to us and he had met with
Communities and schools uh they said a dollar amount they needed we’ve been working hard so there you go that I can see now the kids eyes bigest sausage like wo we this what college life is about yeah then they gonna be hurt that second week when they gotta write a
Paper you only get to do this if you stay in school that’s right you gotta stay in school well let me ask you this is a lot of lot of how many brothers are there currently in your chapter is a lot it’s so we have 37 Brothers on our
Roster oh it’s not that many doing all this work we’re no we’re very we’re a mediumsized chapter that’s congratulations to you guys yes thank you yeah it’s it’s very very it’s enlightening uh you know go he’s being nice it’s enlightening but it is stressful in some
Aspect to know you know you got 37 but as you said it before you know we we have a lot of young brothers and experien Brothers want to do the work you don’t quite know what you’re doing and so that creates some obstacles and then we have you know Elder brothers
That we uh My Brothers Keeper another National program that we try to lock in on which isure ensuring that our Elder Brothers um and their households are taken care of right their spouses um you know do y’all need groceries you need somebody come cut the grass you know so we’re you know again
Alpha is taking into account uh Brothers you know Alpha from from day one to to the end um and so yeah we we’re we’re small we’re a medium siiz chapter but we’re small we’re small you think about like a Charlotte chapter I think currently they have around they’re above 150 okay
Yeah so for y’all to get the work done is saying something then EXA to get the work done to raise the dollars that we’ve been raising to be involved in the things that we’re involved in it’s impressive I’m not going I’m not gonna cut no blows because nobody pop your c pop your
We’re working we’re working so we’ve earn we’ve earned a lot of things that we’re doing I’m just excited for the growth so yeah yeah and and one of the things I saw one of your uh programs that you guys are really knocking it out the park with your voter registration or
Your voter yes ma’am yeah so we partner with black voters matter uh and that was one of the first uh I was vice president of the chapter at the time our president at the time our immediate past president brother Cordo Jones He spearheaded ensuring that Grant partnership with
Them where where we uh secured a $5,000 Grant to do some U voter education and so voteless people is a hopeless people another National program like how many programs y’all got that’s all right we need them all we need them all so they kind of disbanded you know
Going door too doing things like that and so we had to get creative so you know one of the things we did was a drive-thru voter registration yeah just pull up and come register to vote and then that was one small thing and then got we got kind of ridiculous with our
Ideas said hey let’s do a party at the polls and what does that look like and so we partnered with again black BS matter we use those funds to um cook out we got a we got a grill match to come out we got a DJ to come out and we
Literally went um and I’ll tell you how things work on the property where we were doing the party at the PO security told us we couldn’t be there so you think about we coordinated all of this um and it was free so we were giving all
This food away we were just reward we didn’t care who you voted for that wasn’t what the conversation was yes ma’am exercise your right exercise your right to vote um and learn who’s on your local ballot right and that’s to everybody watching this podcast see who serving your community locally because that’s way
More important if we want to be honest but told us we couldn’t be there so you know like the alpha man we are we relocated about 50 yards away and we gave we gave away all that food and play cornhole with the people and talk and
Laugh and so that was exciting for us and we’re just looking forward to to continue doing party at the polls again voter registration uh most recently we did another party at the polls Partners partnership with 102 jams which is a local radio station here we did the same
Thing gave some free food away some voter education materials provided people with their uh with their ballots um line up for you know Democrats and Republicans because you know you you again exercise your right to vote and so just even rattling these things off I’m impressed I’m impressed I’m impressed you know well
You guys have always impressed me over the years that I’ve been but just I mean when I learned when you said it was so well yeah that changes it yeah I was like whoa just 34 Brothers okay whoa but let me ask you let me take a sidebar
Here because we talking about voting and um one thing I do know is Alpha F Alpha Services the communities that look like us when it comes to talk about voting what do you say I’m pretty sure you’ve experienced this when you you get the people that look like us oh man I ain’t
Gonna vote my vote don’t count it’s it’s take I take two different positions on that me in my letters me letter you know again let’s let’s talk about it let’s talk about the things that are bothering you in the community or what what what is because we don’t know a lot of things
And I don’t I I and that’s a a handicapping uh situation for our communities because we don’t we we only know we know and so people ask all the time like the censes people don’t know why they do the senses they don’t know but when you learn that okay the sensus
Is going to ensure that you get more bus stops in your community more benches for your elderly that are waiting on the bus when you hear things like that it inclines you to do more so in those conversations where people are saying uh or I can’t vote because I’m a felon
Right that’s that’s something we we encounter a lot I person didn’t know it was ways around I I never knew that until talking to somebody about it right they were like this a system or program that you can go learn how I didn’t know but that’s the way they keep our
Communities from not being involved though exactly and it’s it’s everything is is is designed design design but that’s a whole another it is it is and if you do another series and you want me to come back we can spend 30 minutes on that as well but yeah I to say you know
What is the problem that you’re facing you see going on and then listen to the people saying they want to address those problems okay provide them with your vote right provide them with your vote because if they win you they’re now serving you right you have the right to
Speak up and say hey what happened to you doing this this is what we talking about you would do on a local level you know you can’t can’t go I mean you can go to DC and yell at the White House not much gon happen and you try to scale
That fence you’ll find out but you Lu else but you can go to your your City Council meetings you can go um to hear your mayor speak right you can do those things and quite possibly uh go to functions lunches dinners because these people again they live amongst
You make your voice be heard so that’s kind of my push and drive to say hey locally got only do it together yeah I can just imagine you guys out there doing your thing and trying to do voter registration and a whole bunch of us be
Like man I’m just here for the hot dog I ain’t trying I’m not g to eat can I get some food of course you can like of course I’m still but and then while you’re eating let’s talk to educate because you know it’s some people that um you know came they came and
Asked us can they get some food because they they I guess they had a preconceived notion of our opinion of how they were presenting themselves right oh okay okay are we allowed to eat this food yes ma’am I don’t care you voted for it like you I’m glad you voted gotcha gotta just
Long as you exercise you’re right yeah that’s sure we gonna all get in well let me let me let me let me Circle back here because you mentioned two concepts that I kind of want to tie together um you you talked about uh Brothers Keeper and
Then uh we were talking about uh voting and how it impacts the computer uh Community one of the things that when you look at a bigger larger scale of what alpify Alpha is it is really a intergenerational village kind of thing so you have older brothers you can go to
And say man my wife is getting on my nerves can you give me some advice you know or I’m about to be a father or and and in turn you know he can he can you know the older brother can say man I don’t know how to work all these apps on
My phone you know can you help me out or whatever or can you take me to the doctor whatever like you were saying earlier you have this intergenerational Village right this design how how does that now that you’ve learned all that seen all of that um especially coming from Salsbury and I
Understand some of the Dynamics of Salsbury how is that beneficial this design to our own communities especially our communities of color it’s Priceless it’s pric I even get emotional thinking about it just to be honest with you you know my my father’s in my life uh has
Always been in my life my parents are married uh but my my background in my working um has been in nonprofit historically and with youth and disgruntled families and you know uh just a lot a lot of stressors and seeing those things and so when you come into
Something like this you you become a part of this Brotherhood it’s so it’s just it’s so refreshing and it’s it’s really like a family sometimes you get tired of it you know you ain’t gonna lie tired of it we get into it we go back
And forth we get we get uh but at the bare roots of all of it uh it’s Priceless because what it shows the community is that we’re not all killing each other we’re not all fighting each other we’re not all expressing hate um and and negativity and it when people
Come and see us doing something you can see it like you can I can recognize the respect and the love in that moment and it it literally is life changing every every holiday season for the last couple years we’ve been doing a holiday turkey Drive uh
And the reason it’s so special to me is because I bir that idea when I first came to chapter Say Hey I want to do this right I said I want to do this I want to do this Brothers can we do it you know how many turkeys we gave away
Just guess that first time I wanted to do it you know how many just just don’t even be dramatic be be just remember we like we like 34 right 34 y’all it was like 15 of us dead and five of us just came in 50 I wish we gave away
One one one baby I know and I was and I was proud I was proud I was so proud I was like this is amazing I was happy it’s a start we gonna build on this it’s okay it was and it was lovely and then last year I think we had
Like 30 or 40 and then this year we gave away I think we gave away turkeys chickens and hams and bags of fresh vegetables and Kangas and this and that and this and that but my point being we all out there together we had some youth
Come out they were volunteering U had a partnership with another organization they came out two organizations actually came out to support and it’s just it hits you in a moment of doing the work like you just kind of look around this is what it’s about this is what it’s
About yes ma’am how far we’ve come you know you got people coming up and of course you know they’re they’re not the proudest coming up you know they it’s a it’s a it’s insecurity that comes with and we’re we’re understanding of that it’s quite frankly everybody’s about two paychecks away from from losing
Everything they have don’t take much don’t take much if we want to be realistic so again we’re happy to be there to show hey you’re human right it’s it’s okay we’re here to help our community and serve our community and so when we come together and that community
Is like you said well this hey can you do this for me or can you help me I’m trying to buy a house educate me on this brother how how did you get we got Brothers to sell cars I’m TR lower a lower rate can I refinance still have my
Car under my Gap warranty know all this stuff so again it’s like I said I had my dad but I didn’t have any older brothers and so so you got that now you’ve got that I do I do I had a lot of uncles and
A lot and a lot of and a lot of nephews right thank you yes ma’am it’s just it’s fun because what it is and through talking that through that with you what I realize now is that we all have a responsibility to each other in our own
Unique way whether it’s um a Respect by looking up or you know Respect by reaching down that’s right awesome it’s a beautiful thing it’s Beau and I just have uh digress one thing you guys gave away turkeys and all that stuff with the price of eggs and Easter coming up y’all
Need to give away some eggs y’all need to give away some eggs look get a partnership with hey they might be a little short might have to take a couple to the house so we going give you up but not seriously look that’s that’s crazy inflation inflation
I’m not egg whes for me EG for me I can’t I can’t keep up with y’all be figh these folks I ain’t mad at you I’ll pass that idea on though I know get some EGS y’all need to get away some eggs people Wai for them eggs ain’t nobody dying
Eggs this year nobody ain’t having no e said hunt this year no you find them you keep them well let me ask you this you said you uh grew up in Salsbury and I I passed through there a couple times but I’m not really concrete on the Dynamics um but
I’m pretty sure you’ve grown up uh with brothers who went a different direction in life than you right uh so now that you’re here at this place in your life and and you’ve experienced Alpha and you’ve experienced some other things in your your opinion what are some key
Factors when it comes to young boys especially young black boys that determine whether or not they’re going this way or whether or not they’re going that way that’s a great question uh representation is everything what I embodied even through Alpha now and I tell my brothers all the time it’s a
It’s a stigma that comes with Alpha right arrogance and all of these other things me coming into it I initially was so I’ve always worked hard you know and I think a lot of people have a perception of me or anybody else uh that you know things were given to me which I
Hate that idea um are you only child I am not I am not I have two older sisters but I am the youngest and I am the only boy right which that’s what people lean towards but the point being I I was I am a great son right so I feel like being
Spoiled is when you receive something you don’t deserve right uh and so my my thinking always was because I I you know I want to get good CR I want to but I want to be cool too right and so it’s like how do you how do you balance these things and it
Took a long time for me to realize you can absolutely be both and in any interaction with the youth that has always been my platform is is being smart is cool yes that’s cool it’s it’s really like whatever you whatever you aspire to be in life you’re going to
Need this right of course a lot of things happen by by I’ll call it luck you know I luck but Lu yeah when preparation me experience is really what lucky is in my mind but it just happens right but if you really want to come out on top you got to have
Some wit about yourself and so again representation being young and being in these spaces our older brothers are not going to be able to have an impact on a high school student it’s not gonna work we say we say that kindly we say that kindly yeah with love I say it with love
I say it with love but I know they need to see somebody because even when I was working with I was 20 what was I 24 25 I was managing sites with a nonprofit working with atrisk teams they thought I was old I can only imagine you know five
Year old brother he know what he’s talking about he cool too dressed nice got a good job they ain’t trying to hear that no no not relatable to me yeah not relatable and so you know listening to the same music we both know which Jordan coming out next right you know it’s I’m
Watching the game tonight it’s it’s things like that that are very very important and also yeah I know all of that but I also have this credit score yes I also you know I also take care what I need to take care of so that that’s really the thing representation
And being up in their face they have to have to see you and know you’re there um being present is is another major you know major key to that um and just being involved so that that’s really what has been for me and and it’s going to remain
That way I believe you gotta be boost on the ground awesome that’s true that’s true does your chapter currently uh run the what is that Alpha program youth leadership yes ma’am yeah Al yeah our Leadership Institute yes ma’am yeah so we’re we do so much it’s just I’m like
Wait a minute hold on I need to script here like let me get Ali Alpha Leadership Institute um brother Brandon Burgess is over that program and he is uh we’re revamping it we’re really we’re really trying to like I kind of touched on earlier hone in on
What group would be ideal if any we teering between a lot of different ways to approach it and so it’s coming that point again representation we want to be wherever we are we want to be locked in there right we don’t want to put insert oursel in their lives and
Then remove ourselves That’s not healthy for anyone that’s true true yes ma’am so you know they they experienced enough of that uh and I won’t get on that but but wherever we are want to be you know rooted in that in that space and so that’s something that’s very very
Uh you know important for us right now in the Forefront of our minds and planning and so we’re we’re pushing through these humps uh currently working on getting our scholarships rolling we’re giving out not giving out we’re awarding three scholarships this year uh through our uh um fundraising efforts
And so again that’ll give us another platform to have youth apply and be able to again okay be in positions to discuss with with our high school potential students um hey this money’s here and we’re looking to looking to award it so okay so since you guys are a younger
Chapter and a smaller chapter do you have the opportunity to kind of Bounce stuff off you said you have the Charlotte chapter that’s close by do you you have or so you have some advisor we do we do but our our brother’s in the chapter um so we have a
Brother in our chapter so of course we have seven Jewels um okay Al Alpha writing so this brother is referred to as affectionately as a jeel it’s funny but it’s because he we gonna show him this after this okay yeah he’s knowledgeable he he knows everything
He’s worked on Alpha every level I text him before I got on here with you I said is it anything that you need anything pressing in your mind that needs to be said oh he just said one just said the scholarship you know we we you know he’s currently our
Treasur okay yes ma’am and if we didn’t if we didn’t have him manag finances because again it’s a lot of things that we all have to sit down and learn right you know it’s certain taxes that Alpha that our chapter has to pay specifically and things like that yeah yeah another
Very seasoned brother brother Orlando Mitchell again has he was a part of The Rebirth of our chap in the early 2000s um he was a uh he actually attended Livingstone College located in Salsbury okay and he crossed there um at the Gamu chapter okay so being now a part of our
Chapter he he been just his influence has been just it’s it’s amazing and that’s what I say about our chapter we we could you know we do um Adam UL Lambda is a chapter that’s more related to our size that is very very successful and so um you know partnering with them and
Discussing with them and their uh one of their past presidents me and him got got pretty close brother Holland he gave a lot of influence to our immediate past president and kind of there pushing towards doing things to a greater scale with smaller number um and just line us
Up with great ideas volunteer opportunities and so yeah we we share the sugar you know yeah we we communicate but we’ve got some again some powerhouses in the B land chapter we we we bless y coming with it y’all I’mma pass I’mma pass through there in a couple years I’ll be like hey
They these brothers done did the thing see listen go the city might be gold the city might be gold go we’ll see yes ma’am but we’re definitely fortunate to have those Brothers now chapter and again their influence is just Priceless okay awesome so uh let let’s honor uh your older brother’s uh
Wishes here these scholarships break down like who’s eligible for them and when can they apply and all of that stuff so we can make sure he’s not upset with us exactly so so we’re actually so next we’ll be meeting is it tonight we’ll be we’ll be meeting the final I
Believe is it tonight probably the calendar is ridiculous but we’ll be meeting to finalize those uh those points but I can tell you that um our eligible or ideal student will be a blackmail uh GPA over 25 is where we’re aiming okay um of course must be uh must
Be accepted to your next school um you know or actively applying to school’s rights receive that because we’ll be awarding that uh closer toward its graduation okay I believe we’ll set a deadline as uh March 31st is being our deadline for that application okay and you just you’ll have to write an essay
And express you know um one question so that question will be posed on theay um we’ll actually be dropping that uh that link really really soon and so soon we lock it in we want to be you know we want to be reading through those those entries and we want to encourage you
Know churches to get on board uh any of our D9 organizations that have you know sons nephews okay we want them to apply we want them to apply and get a you know get a piece of the pie uh they they’re welld deserving again and we we want to
You know we plan on housing a banquet to award those those dollars to those students and we want to be in a position where every year you know this can be a roll in scholarship so we want to be able to you know reward our students that received our scholarship going into
College each year throughout college so that’s that’s one idea with bouncing around but yes ma’am I mean this is really it’s an opportunity giv scholarship uh if you’re if you’ve been working hard yeah and you them book them books ain’t cheap you know they’re not they’re not so any dollars help I’m in
Grass school right now them books are not cheap they are not cheap I hate paying for you better do a little something strange for some change minute exactly I’m to figure something out I’m have to apply for for our scholarship I think I got a good shot I
Know somebody you know somebody to know somebody I you you mean we encourage you to apply again we’re we’re giving back to our community so many dollars out there for you know other entities and other groups and so so beautiful I love you guys you love I love you guys don’t
Tell don’t tell the rest of they already know I can see it now when this comes up Lana we thought you like us I do I do but you know it’s okay though it’s okay it’s a natural Affinity it’s all right we just we just those type of guys but
Oh there there goes that black and gold a against okay all righty so I got I got one more question for you then I’m G ask you my random question okay uh because uh oh let’s see here let’s say in the process of you know doing one of your youth mentorship
Programs and you working with the young boys or you just come across a young a young man and he’s kind of been watching you watching the way you move and he finally comes over to you and says you know Mr Watkins um since you’ve been an alpha
How has that uh made you a better man made you a better person what would your reply be man it’s a really good question uh we always talk about and I it’s funny I’m I’m laughing because I tease my brothers all the time especially my L Brothers uh I felt
So different coming into this space um you know we always say we we were Alphas we’ve always been Alphas we just now we the letters uh but for me I think the difference has been I’m I’m connected to something for the rest of my life right and it’s you really it’s it’s just
Mindblowing to go places and meet brothers and just introduce yourself and just have a quick conversation uh I went to the African-American history museum in Washington DC and I uh I saw a brother but the interaction was funny because you could tell that we both have been looking for each other
All day not specifically but like you’ve been looking for an I know there’s one up in here I know there’s one up in here SE so much purple in this place where are we at and we walk past each other we might as well had a slow motion run
It really was like his girlfriend was looking like finally you like okay we can go home now but it’s it’s made me just much more aware that’s one thing I I’ve I’ve always been you know conscious of my surroundings but really really knowing that I am a representation of this great
Fraternity at all times in all things I do you know we have fun we have great times together but we do the work we do the work we represent ourselves uh and you know I would tell them I would say hey when you get on to the other side
And I I tell people all the time you know a lot of people aspire to be a part of something your idea of what alpha alpha Fraternity Incorporated is it might very well be that whatever you think it is when you get on this side
This is the only thing you will pay to be a part of and work going to work you going to have to work so you know it’s it’s giv me these intangible things but really a family when I’m not near my family um you know
Just you know any I can call on somebody and know from the smallest thing like hey I need help mve like I need help moving and and I can know there yes ma’am and and that can be done if they call me and they need something you know
I tell I tell people all the time if I if I can’t do it I’m G say no if I can do it I will and if I don’t know I’ll try to find out that’s true and that’s all and that’s every brother in in you
Know the BAM me Lambda chapter um in quite frankly my interactions with Alpha as a whole haven’t been quite you know different from that and so you know I I encourage you know all young men to you know if you aspire to be a part of
Something and I and I’m gonna say this and I know you want to get to your next question but I I always have to share this story because it’s very is right on the head of what you’re saying to me um it was our I was going through you know
My uh what we call our imdp process which is our own boarding to join the fraternity um we do our classes and things like that um and it was uh the final day and the final day is is comprised of a My Brother’s Keeper community service
Component uh what we did was we went out to an older brother’s home and we we raped his yard cleaned his yard up got it together he had a beautiful home and at the end he said y’all you know everybody come on the back back porch he
Had cooler full of Gade and water God gave us something to drink told us to sit down and he goes into this whole and it it it blindsided me because I hadn’t thought about the position he was taking and now I’m much more aware of myself in this
Fraternity the Crux of his point was you all are great men you could have been anything me I’m like yeah pretty great know just joking to myself but you could have been anything but you chose to pursue Alpha right I said wow and then he said thank you for considering my
Fraternity and it blew my mind it literally and I I don’t know if anybody else sit on that porch remember this story I don’t care it blew my mind because in that moment I realized what he saw in me I didn’t even see it myself right he saw the the fraternity he saw
The hard work I was beyond he saw me as a person and so that’s what’s important with us when we interacting with these young men we see them as people first of course we want them to be Alice yeah right um if they’re hardworking and they and they’re
Representative of what we what we you know see as our great paternity because there some people that I would never want to wear my letters ever you know it’s it’s a lot actually right but if you see that in them and you know you you had that conversation I’m I’m always willing to
You know I’m never shot with the information that can be shared with individuals I feel like should be you know that would be impactful but also be impacted about what we’re doing um with this black and no go awesome I just want to share that that’s awesome and and uh
Before I do my random question uh my one request uh of you would be to when your time comes uh that you deliver that same Spa speech to that gentleman absolutely and I I will I’m I’m I’m looking forward when I get my porch back
There I I didn’t earn my rank I don’t I didn’t get up there and R some leav I got the Gatorade in the water though I’m take care of I got you yes ma’am you can count all right dear let me see what we’ve got for a random question H and
Then I will have you share how we uh visit your chapter when we’re up your way or maybe donate and all of that stuff absolutely I saw I saw it might have been some years back I saw y’all had a little party I said yeah these some young folks these some young
Brothers had a party at the club we still we did we didy to have a good time though we still we’re putting the work in so it balances you gotta balance it out uh what is the worst purchase you’ve ever made the worst purchase I’ve ever made oh man worst purchase I ever
Made okay what is the worst thing I’ve the worst purch I’ve ever made I this is actually recent I bought a a laptop I bought a new laptop for school excited about it get the laptop in you know I’m sitting there uploading stuff uh my my masters uh is in business
Intelligence data analytics and so I have to use software this computer was not compatible with any software that I will ever ever use ever that was the worst and I was in like crunch time to get that computer out research and find a new computer that probably was the
Worst purchas I’ve ever made honestly I’m pretty I won’t say I’ll say Frugal I’m pretty Frugal in that’s all right I ain’t mad at you so we didn’t do no no any kind of research before we bought the not enough this look good let me get this
This is in my price range this is in my price range let me that’s what it was that’s literally what it was I all my cars have been have been very very good good cars all my TVs have been good TVs Furniture being good Furniture if the
Food is nasty I’m G just send it back so I don’t know if that’s a bad purchase yeah I had to go with that computer that probably was that was the worst yes ma’am so how do we get our work done then for new laptop new laptop had to run that one
Back and do some research I guess putting that working on the front end would save you but I get we learn hard head make a soft all righty all right here brother Watkins please tell us please tell us how we uh learn more about bam you
Lambda and uh check out one of your Events maybe support the chapter and just if we’re passing through get some sweet tea and a donut or whatever you know just just tell us the whole thing so let me let me pull up our website here so I can get y’all the exact handle
I’m W to make sure that I had it correct because you know it’s in my favorit so it really is if you want to go to our website and check out what we’re doing get connected with us you can just go to www.b lda.org right you’ll that’ll lock
You in with us um you can find our calendar events I encourage everybody you have a Facebook page add us on Facebook follow us on Facebook we show a lot um we’ve done lives where we have you know panel discussions things like that so that’s a good opportunity just
To lock in and see what we’re doing uh if you want to donate or give same method you want to go to our website or you can reach out to us through um through Facebook we do have an Instagram page as well I believe it’s better me
1939 you can follow us on there and see some of our beautiful faces see you a couple birthday shout out such a handsome faces you guys thank you yeah come come lock in with us and see what we’re doing but we again we’re so excited we want to connect with as many
People as possible um even if you have no interest in in greekdom um if you care about your community connect with us we care about our community and we care about your community as well uh we we’re always willing to to speak uh we’re always willing to represent
Because all in all we’re only as good as as our weakest link so we all want to strong and connect together so please connect with reach out to us send us an email again add us on Facebook Instagram and and just look forward to what we’re doing we’re excited awesome awesome I
Have truly truly enjoyed myself and and uh picking your brain about a few things and and learning from you and like I said you know you guys are down the road from my my birthplace my birthplace so uh maybe next time I get in town I’ll
Have to peek in on y’all and see what y’all got see what see if y’all passing out them eggs out give us a look I make sure we save a dozen for you I’m Frugal like you I’ll be like wait a minute he said he said they might
Have some free eggs I might if you get out there you don’t see me say Jay told me but y’all gonna have a dozen for me we’ll make sure we get it for you got my word got my word well to your your small but powerful and impactful chapter I
Just wish you contined Ser uh you know success and and serving the community it’s much needed and um I’m pretty sure uh you’ve heard it many many times but everybody appreciates the work that you do and I mean just I I I I just love to
See you guys coming and I’ve I’ve always and enjoyed you guys over the years just watching the work that you guys do letting everybody know you guys do more than just stroll exactly more stroll and wear cologne and both times we do y’all actually work y’all
Actually do the work so you know I I I like you guys you know being that example to the community you know so we need to see that so I I just I just thank you and appreciate all you gentlement for the work that you do you
Know the servant and we appreciate you thank you so much for your kind words um that means a lot to us because again we we don’t do it looking for anything in return but it feels a lot better when you know that that your work is having
An impact and so thank you um so I am clapping for y’all I’m Clapp we hey we need it we appreciate it we appreciate it I know because some of us you know you trying to serve the community and some of us make it difficult but I’m oh
Yeah oh yeah we G get some push back but we gonna keep pushing we gonna push back to that’s right that’s all y’all do that’s all y’all do we get it done we’ll get it done Lord willing yes ma’am you will you will awesome well that is all
For this week’s episode of the male perspective I’m your host Lana Reed and I will see everybody next time pap
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