In honor of this special day, I want to share the following story that was sent to me by one of sisters from college. I am excited to see my Beta Omicron sisters and Alpha Chi receive national recognition for their service to the Florida Southern campus community.
Florida Southern College's Stray Cats getting own Frank Lloyd Wright Styled Dorms
By ERIC PERA
The Lakeland Ledger
LAKELAND, Fla. --
Treasured for its storied collection of Frank Lloyd Wright
buildings, esplanades and soaring fountain, Florida Southern College is
making room for six more structures inspired by the famed architect.
These new structures will be small - only about 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. Unlike other Wright designs, they are not meant for humans.
Rather, the six domiciles built mostly of custom-made concrete blocks will provide shelter for almost 100 feral cats living on the Lakeland campus.
It would be incorrect to call them cat houses, college officials say. The preferred terminology is cat cafe, a place where the wayward felines can kick back for a drink and some chow.
The cafes, designed by a New York architectural firm that has done renovation work on several Wright buildings at FSC, will double as shelter. The Alpha Chi Omega sorority will supply food and watch over the cats in partnership with SPCA of Florida as part of its commitment to control Polk County's feral cat problem.
"We think it's good for the community," said Terry Dennis, FSC's vice president of operations, who is working with Rodda Construction Inc. to build the cafes designed by Jeff Baker of Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker Architects of Albany, N.Y.
Wright, who died in 1959, left the private college with the largest collection of his designs at any one location - 12 - but he envisioned 18 buildings, including what he called a "usonian" home for faculty housing.
Using Wright's original usonian design, FSC, with monetary assistance from Lakeland and Polk County, is building the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center. It will include a gift shop and a tourism kiosk with information on other local attractions. Baker has incorporated leftover block from its construction into his cat cafe designs.
"They were looking at this as a real fun thing to do," Dennis said of Baker and his firm. "It's another thing our tour guides can point to."
Construction, he said, is scheduled to begin any week now, or as soon as Baker completes the blueprints.
The Lakeland-based SPCA recently obtained $50,000 in county funding to help control an estimated population of 300,000 stray cats. Its trap, neuter and release program is controversial, however, especially with bird lovers and conservationists.
But SPCA obtained private funding to trap the campus cats and spay or neuter them so they can no longer breed, said Randa Richter, the nonprofit group's volunteer and community involvement manager. The cats also will be given shots for rabies and distemper, and tagged with a chip for identification, she said.
Members of Alpha Chi Omega will maintain the cafes and SPCA will tend to the cats' health needs until the population dwindles.
The sorority's 58 members will raise money to pay for cat food and other supplies, said Larissa Town, 19, an FSC freshman and vice president of philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega.
"Right now they (the cats) are kind of on their own," she said, and dependent on student good will, which varies at times. "They're feral, so they're afraid of us. They're not aggressive or anything. They're skittish."
The cafes, to be spread across FSC's scenic campus, will be "tucked away for the safety of the animals," Town said. "They're actually pretty adorable."
Dennis said the collaboration with college, SPCA, architect and builder has kept the cost of designing and constructing the cafes minimal. "I'm not foreseeing any issues with where's the funding coming from," he said.
Because of their wild nature, the campus cats stay hidden for much of the day, Dennis said, and venture into the open at night in search of food. The hope is that the cafes will restrict them to specific areas.
Feral cats tend to be territorial, he said, and FSC's colony is not likely to welcome strangers, so once the current population dies out, the problem should be solved.
"The population over time will go down on its own," he said.
These new structures will be small - only about 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. Unlike other Wright designs, they are not meant for humans.
Rather, the six domiciles built mostly of custom-made concrete blocks will provide shelter for almost 100 feral cats living on the Lakeland campus.
It would be incorrect to call them cat houses, college officials say. The preferred terminology is cat cafe, a place where the wayward felines can kick back for a drink and some chow.
The cafes, designed by a New York architectural firm that has done renovation work on several Wright buildings at FSC, will double as shelter. The Alpha Chi Omega sorority will supply food and watch over the cats in partnership with SPCA of Florida as part of its commitment to control Polk County's feral cat problem.
"We think it's good for the community," said Terry Dennis, FSC's vice president of operations, who is working with Rodda Construction Inc. to build the cafes designed by Jeff Baker of Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker Architects of Albany, N.Y.
Wright, who died in 1959, left the private college with the largest collection of his designs at any one location - 12 - but he envisioned 18 buildings, including what he called a "usonian" home for faculty housing.
Using Wright's original usonian design, FSC, with monetary assistance from Lakeland and Polk County, is building the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center. It will include a gift shop and a tourism kiosk with information on other local attractions. Baker has incorporated leftover block from its construction into his cat cafe designs.
"They were looking at this as a real fun thing to do," Dennis said of Baker and his firm. "It's another thing our tour guides can point to."
Construction, he said, is scheduled to begin any week now, or as soon as Baker completes the blueprints.
The Lakeland-based SPCA recently obtained $50,000 in county funding to help control an estimated population of 300,000 stray cats. Its trap, neuter and release program is controversial, however, especially with bird lovers and conservationists.
But SPCA obtained private funding to trap the campus cats and spay or neuter them so they can no longer breed, said Randa Richter, the nonprofit group's volunteer and community involvement manager. The cats also will be given shots for rabies and distemper, and tagged with a chip for identification, she said.
Members of Alpha Chi Omega will maintain the cafes and SPCA will tend to the cats' health needs until the population dwindles.
The sorority's 58 members will raise money to pay for cat food and other supplies, said Larissa Town, 19, an FSC freshman and vice president of philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega.
"Right now they (the cats) are kind of on their own," she said, and dependent on student good will, which varies at times. "They're feral, so they're afraid of us. They're not aggressive or anything. They're skittish."
The cafes, to be spread across FSC's scenic campus, will be "tucked away for the safety of the animals," Town said. "They're actually pretty adorable."
Dennis said the collaboration with college, SPCA, architect and builder has kept the cost of designing and constructing the cafes minimal. "I'm not foreseeing any issues with where's the funding coming from," he said.
Because of their wild nature, the campus cats stay hidden for much of the day, Dennis said, and venture into the open at night in search of food. The hope is that the cafes will restrict them to specific areas.
Feral cats tend to be territorial, he said, and FSC's colony is not likely to welcome strangers, so once the current population dies out, the problem should be solved.
"The population over time will go down on its own," he said.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/18/3240506/florida-southern-colleges-stray.html#storylink=cpy
My name is Larissa Town and I am currently the V.P Philanthropy at Beta Omicron. Recently, I have been thinking about transferring to U of L, but I feared that I would miss out on wonderful years with Alpha Chi. After seeing our article on this Alumni page, I am comforted in the fact that I have sisters support in Florida and Louisville!
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