Orlando and Winter Park Alumni Chapters to host 
83rd Grand Chapter Meeting July 18-22, 2017 

 

ORLANDO – Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. today announced that Orlando will welcome more than 10,000 members, their families and associates for the organization’s 83rd Grand Chapter Meeting (conclave) on July 18-22, 2017.  The fraternity made the announcement at a press conference held in the heart of the city, at the Lake Eola Amphitheater.  

 

Local officials on site to give the fraternity an official welcome included Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando; Orange County commissioners Bryan Nelson, District 2, and Victoria Siplin, District 6; and Winter Park Vice Mayor Sarah Sprinkel.  Extending greetings on behalf of the convention’s host hotel, Rosen Shingle Creek, was Travers Johnson, associate director of sales for Rosen Hotels & Resorts.  

 

Orlando last served as the biennial conclave’s host venue in 1991.  This time around, the five-day series of meetings and social activities is expected to infuse millions of dollars into the local economy and leave a legacy of community good.  “It’s the basis for our theme, Leave a Legacy:  Build a Future,” said the fraternity’s international president (grand polemarch) Thomas Battles, Jr.  “We aim to leave a significant and indelible mark on Orlando through public service initiatives from now through the conclave and long afterward.”  

 

One is the fraternity’s new partnership with OneBlood, the local blood center, through which both will sponsor quarterly blood drives and promote the importance for the need for blood donations by African Americans.  The first blood drive took place during the press conference.  According to OneBlood spokesman Pat Michaels, “African American blood donors hold the power to save other African American’s in need of a blood transfusion. That’s because donors with genetically-similar blood are more likely to be a match for patients from the same ethnic background.”