by: Jennifer Byrd-Alvarado
When you think of making a gift to the SAE Foundation, you probably think of giving monetarily in response to an appeal or through participation in a campaign such as March to the Madness. Would you ever think of gifting your fraternity house? Probably not, but that’s just what Kevin Leong (San Francisco ‘70) and Mike Monroe (San Francisco ‘70) from the University of San Francisco did.
As undergraduates, Kevin and Mike were founding members of the California Sigma chapter at USF. Both brothers served their chapter as undergraduates – Kevin as Eminent Deputy Archon and Eminent Archon and Mike as Historian.
After graduation, Kevin traveled throughout Europe for two months. When he came home, he joined the Oakland Police Department, where he worked for 16 years, six as a Patrolman and ten as a Criminal Investigator for the District Attorney. Later in his career, he volunteered and worked as a Gift Officer at USF.
Mike joined the Navy for two years after graduating. Following his service, he married his wife, Eva, a former SAE Little Sister, and began his career in construction distribution. Ten years later, Mike and several partners purchased a company and later sold it to White Cap/Home Depot.
Kevin and Mike still live in the Bay Area and have remained involved with USF and SAE throughout the years. Mike served as the California Sigma House Corporation President for 20 years. To this day, both men still keep in touch with many of their chapter brothers.
“We’ve always stayed connected with our USF roots, which allowed us to connect and reconnect with fraternity brothers,” said Kevin.
When the California Sigma chapter closed in 2004, the fraternity house, which sits next to USF’s campus, became a rental property. Several years ago, Kevin and Mike began discussing what to do with the house. While they remain hopeful to reopen an SAE chapter at USF one day, the university no longer allows fraternity or sorority houses. After consulting with other California Sigma alumni, Kevin and Mike started working on making a unique gift to benefit two entities that have impacted all of them – the University of San Francisco and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
“They all liked the idea of taking what was essentially a surplus property and converting it into something that would benefit not only USF but also the SAE Foundation,” said Mike.
After having the property appraised, the California Sigma House Corporation gave the house to USF. A gift for half of the property value was made to the SAE Foundation, making it the single largest one-time donation in Foundation history.
In the end, Kevin and Mike allocated a portion of the donation to the SAE Foundation’s Annual Loyalty Fund to support educational programming, scholarships, and the upkeep and operation of the Levere Memorial Temple. They also endowed an academic scholarship fund for California Sigma alumni, their children, descendants, and hopefully future chapter members if California Sigma reopens. Scholarship applicants must have a 3.0 GPA or higher and exemplify the values of SAE – Friendship, Scholarship, Leadership, and Service.
“We want to share not only our success but the ideals of philanthropy and giving back, whether through time, talent, or treasure. We hope to inspire other people and groups to do something similar or inspire them to be creative and do something that nobody’s ever thought to do. And, of course, nobody ever thought of giving this piece of property away,” said Kevin.
The Foundation thanks Kevin and Mike for their creativity and generosity and is honored to fundraise for, manage, and award money from the California Sigma Scholarship Fund.
For more information about the SAE Foundation and scholarships, please visit sae.net/foundation/.
