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Written By: Summer Clarkson 
Giving feels good.
Giving is a form of gratitude.
Giving is a well-being approach to life. Philanthropy is a private initiative for the public good. Sigma Pi has become one of my not-so-private philanthropies now.
Brotherhood is another way of saying fellowship. And Sigma Pi is the epitome of a fellowship of men with common purpose.
Many years ago, I joined Sigma Pi Fraternity on the California State University of Fullerton (CSUF) campus. Our chapter is commonly known as Epsilon-Nu.
Did I realize back then what impact Sigma Pi would have on my life some 40 years later?
Not really.
My focus in high school and my college plans were centered around playing baseball. That’s all I wanted to do back then. I was a pitcher in high school. I have to say, I was a pretty good pitcher with great potential. Oh, the dreaded “P” word.
So, my goal was to play one season, maybe two at a local Orange County, California Community College. The targeted prize was to put up some great numbers and transfer to play for the highly sought after CSUF baseball team. What a simple plan.
Well, the story is long, but to keep it short, I did have an elbow injury, and that dream stopped very quickly during the fall of my freshman year in college. My career was shortened by a lingering injury from being the workhorse pitcher at my high school. Around this time, I met this beautiful young lady, started dating, and at that time I figured I’d hang up the cleats and get a degree in college. Luckily, she was studying at CSUF. So, my new plan was to transfer to Fullerton and become a student. Not a student athlete like I dreamed of, but a student.
A couple of good friends from high school attended CSUF and were already in the greek system. My best friend strongly encouraged me to rush his fraternity. My girlfriend (and now my wonderful wife of over 40 years, Laura) and I had in mind to rush one fraternity on campus and be done with the process. I didn’t need to spend more time rushing. I already knew a lot of the guys in my buddy’s Fraternity house. The answer to the question of which fraternity I was going to pledge was a done deal.
Until…
Until Laura’s good friend Sue suggested I check out the Sigma Pi Fraternity during rush week. Sue suggested I go meet George and Ted over at Sigma Pi (while we were at the other Fraternity) and check out this up-and-coming new house. A side note, Sue and George eventually became husband and wife.
So off to Sigma Pi I went.
I met Sigma Pi brothers George and Ted right away. The story was told, I was “handed off” to two other brothers who were very good at marketing and selling Sigma Pi, and they genuinely seemed interested in what I wanted in a Fraternity. I don’t think they actually “sold” me but talked about my needs. Mike and Darrel are still amazing salespeople to this day.
My focus wasn’t meeting girls, I had an amazing and gorgeous girlfriend.
It wasn’t the parties. I enjoyed being the Sergeant-at-Arms at the parties, but getting hammered wasn’t my goal.
What I cared about at that time was to continue to compete and make some good friends and now, get a degree. Darrel and Mike recognized my wants and needs. They helped sell the fraternity based on my needs, not what they “thought” I needed.
They didn’t try to push what the generic rushee wanted. They focused on how Epsilon-Nu could help me with my needs. (By the way, we ended up winning the intramurals several years in a row). The fun competition helped fulfill my need to compete at the time. Now, my competition bug is filled with growing businesses and the occasional game of golf. You can’t take the competitor out of the person. Maybe my days of playing basketball or soccer are over, but I can still compete in several ways.
I became a pledge and active member of Sigma Pi Epsilon-Nu Chapter through that process. Our Zeta class was the largest (and best… if bragging about one’s pledge class is still a thing) in Sigma Pi at the time. Kudos to the active members doing a great job recruiting. They focused on the right things… not the traditional things.
So, I eventually graduated with a degree in Finance. If it wasn’t for my time with Sigma Pi, I don’t know if I would have finished my degree. The guys were great and very supportive.
Ironically, I gravitated to marketing and sales over the years, not finance.
After I graduated, I participated in several alumni events, including the Sigma Pi Softball World Series (which our alumni team won several times… I might add. Did I mention I am competitive?).
Laura and I started our family a few years after graduation. We ended up leaving Orange County and moved our young family to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon in the early 1990s. We have four kids, a busy life, and the room for Sigma Pi wasn’t in the cards for many years. Sigma Pi was a distant memory.
With four kids and life being busy, donating time or money to Sigma Pi wasn’t going to happen.
What Does This Story Have to Do About Giving Back?
Fast forward a few decades….
Recently I started my own manufacturing business. I still advise companies with growth and sales opportunities, but I am an entrepreneur by heart. My good friend and a former Police Captain, Dallas Henry and I started the Pendleton 1790 Knife & Tool company a couple of years ago. I found a definitive market need and I’m developing this small niche in this industry.
We don’t want and need to compete with the big guys at the Bass Pro counter, but we can fill a small premium niche in the non-retail market.
A few months ago, I posted a picture of one of our corporate or university themed knives on LinkedIn. My good friend and fellow Sigma Pi classmate, Larry Rovira noticed my post. Larry, being a former Sigma Pi Grand Sage and pro-growth Fraternity person, reached out and asked if I would and could produce a Sigma Pi themed knife.
Of course we can. So, after a few emails and calls, we obtained the Sigma Pi license, worked with Chris Carter at Sigma Pi headquarters, and we had a few designs approved.
Part of our deal was to produce an Epsilon-Nu version of the knife and pry tool along with the National Sigma Pi knife.
My Way of Giving Back?
Thank God I have a great business partner. He was open to supporting Sigma Pi and willing to give some of our proceeds to The Sigma Pi Education Foundation of each and every knife sold to a brother.
Over the years, I wanted to participate in more Sigma Pi functions, especially the Orange County Alumni Association (OCAA) but being in Oregon and having three of four children going to college, the checkbook was already spoken for…
But…
Becoming a part of the Sigma Pi team again and donating part of our proceeds feels great.
It’s a way for me to give back and not in a traditional sense of just writing checks and sending them off.
Giving can be in many, many ways. It’s not always about writing checks. Think outside the box. Philanthropy is and should be very important in everyone’s lives.
Writing these royalty checks to Sigma Pi every quarter is an “attitude of gratitude” feeling and I’m finally able to give back. I didn’t realize how this small action can feel very big in my life. It feels great to contribute. I feel like I’m filling my gratitude bucket without guilt.
Being in the knife and tool business, you can say my giving was “sharpened by brotherhood!” Yes, the pun was intended.