HR1330 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1330 LRB095 21460 KXB 50944 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Eta Psi Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, is sponsoring its first legislative visit to the State Capitol; and

WHEREAS, The Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on January 9, 1914, by three young, African-American male students, celebrated as the Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and the Honorable Charles I. Brown; and

WHEREAS, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., an international organization comprised of 150,000 college-educated men, focuses on issues that impact youth and our communities; and

WHEREAS, From its inception, the Founders conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community, rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves or their immediate families; this deep conviction is mirrored in the Fraternity's motto, "Culture For Service and Service for Humanity"; and

WHEREAS, Phi Beta Sigma is the only historically African-American fraternity to be constitutionally bound to a sorority, enjoying and fostering a mutually supportive relationship with the women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.; and

WHEREAS, Phi Beta Sigma has from its very beginning concerned itself with improving the general well-being of minority groups and demonstrates this through partnerships with the March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, the National Marrow Donor Program, American Diabetes Research, and St. Jude's Children Research Hospital; and

WHEREAS, The Phi Beta Sigma programs of Bigger and Better Business, Education and Social Action are realized through the Fraternity's overarching program, Sigma Wellness; and

WHEREAS, Key officers today include: Paul L. Griffin, Jr., International President; Lezell Lowe, Great Lakes Regional Director; and Quincy Rosenborough, Illinois State Director; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the members of this Body, in recognition of the achievements of the members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and the values for which they strive, do proclaim Wednesday, May, 21, 2008 as the First Phi Beta Sigma Day throughout the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the International President of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., the Great Lakes Regional Director of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and the Illinois State Director of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.