Editor’s Note: Tomorrow kicks off November and AEPi’s month-long celebration of its founding through the Founders Month challenge. This year, we have set an ambitious goal of raising $613,000 to support our chapters Jewish and academic programming. And a generous donor has agreed to match the first $100,000 raised, meaning that your gift today will have double the impact! To support AEPi’s Founders Month challenge, please click here! To kick-off Founders Month, today we are featuring Brother Fred Fox (Georgia Tech, 1987), the chair of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation.

 “I was at a conference several years ago – probably right around 2016 — and I ran into Andy Borans and Jay Feldman, and they started talking to me,” said Fred Fox (Georgia Tech, 1987). “After about an hour, Andy was still going on, and I said I would get back involved in AEPi somehow and they talked about the exciting direction that the AEPi Foundation was taking, and I offered to serve on the board.”

“I didn’t really know what I had signed up for but since college, about 90% of what I’ve been involved with outside of work has been Jewish-focused, so I thought this made even more sense.”

Moving from his hometown in Philadelphia to attend college in Atlanta was a bit of a culture shock in 1983 for Fred. He met the son of a friend of his father’s who was also a freshman at Georgia Tech, and he first introduced Fred to AEPi. “I didn’t think it was for me. I went to another fraternity (a non-Jewish fraternity) and got a bid. I remember them telling me in the bid room that there was mandatory Bible class for the pledges and I stopped them and reminded them that I was Jewish. One of the guys said, ‘That’s cool, we’ve never had a Jewish brother.’ I’m from Philadelphia. I’ve never heard of something like that, and I thought I was out of my element. The guys even checked with their national and were told that I would have to attend bible class with everyone else, but I could sit in the back. I knew it wasn’t right for me. I left the house, walked into the AEPi house and signed up immediately.”

AEPi’s Zeta chapter at Georgia Tech was going through a transition in those days. “We were definitely not one of the biggest houses back then, but the next few years was transformative. We rushed Jews. We identified as Jewish. We had Jewish programs. We became very identifiable as Jewish. I grew up a Reform Jew, I don’t think I had ever met someone who grew up Orthodox, and we learned from each other.”

“After I graduated, I realized that I had become this really focused Jewish kid and that it meant something to me to be a part of the Jewish community.”

After graduating from Georgia Tech and moving back to his hometown area of Philadelphia, Fred remained involved in the Jewish community. “I was involved in Jewish Federation. I chaired the Federation-sponsored Jewish High School, and, with some friends, I helped start the ‘Philly-Israel Network’ in the early 2000s where we would host alternating Democrat and Republican candidates for public office and help them raise money if they supported Israel. That program was very successful for a number of years but sort of faded out in 2016.

“So, getting back involved in AEPi made perfect sense for me. I knew that I could help make a difference in an important way in the Jewish community if I invested in it with time and resources.

“I see our role at the AEPi Foundation as building an endowment that funds the fraternity programs so they can keep doing what they are doing. We’re impacting Jewish students in a way that is unique. We’re the last stop on the train ride before young men go out into the world. We’re making a difference when they’re in college and when they graduate and are in the community.”

With Founders’ Month around the corner, Fred is honing that message and preparing for a busy time in his role as the AEPi Foundation board chair. “November is what I call a ‘Good Feel’ month. It’s busy but people often take a little time to reflect about what is important to them and I think that’s part of the reason that Founders’ Month is successful and important for us.”

“AEPi makes a difference in people’s lives, and I think that’s why they want to support us. There are not many organizations in the world like it.”

#ProudtobeaPi