"IT IS OUR WISH, THAT WHAT WAS BEGUN HERE CONTINUES. THAT THIS HEARTH OF LEADERSHIP, VISION, AND COMMUNITY STAYS AFLAME AND AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA. THAT THE COMPLEXION OF GOD AND WHOEVER LIVES HERE CONTINUES TO BUILD STRONG COMMUNITIES OF LEADERS AND OF FRIENDS FOR GENERATIONS TO COME."
The Alpha Omega House, like a mosaic, is a collection of stories; it’s a collection of gifts, of efforts and acts of love. It is a haven and more than anything, it is a home.
But it hasn’t always been this way.
It all started with the vision of a couple named Deb and Jeff Greer...
That in the midst of a caustic and corrosive environment, students might have a place of stability, a place of recess and familial presence. That with love, it would serve not to prevent choices and behaviors, but as a safe landing pad for students as they made them. That with the right place and the right leadership and the right support, it would be a sanctuary in which to experience security and love and the presence of God.
That was the vision.
A series of extraordinary philanthropic gifts and answered prayers made it possible for the Greers to move into a failing fraternity, a home in which they would embark on this epic venture.
It was a labor of love un-before seen. Floor by floor, room by room, the old frat was transformed into a thing of beauty. All the new carpet, refinished floors, repainted rooms and windows were part of the reclamation process, a journey of refurbishing the shell and cultivating the soul of what would be the Alpha Omega House.
Every step along the way was blessed with the generosity of friends and family. Never was a finger lifted or a dollar given that wasn’t given out of relationship.
After years of patience, persistence and many a miracle, Deb and Jeff opened the doors to a house that would serve as a missing link for college students at U of M.
It hasn’t always been easy.
Lots of people thought Deb and Jeff were crazy to willfully move in with 25 college kids. Those 2 a.m. mornings when students were practicing tap dances in the bathroom or using ice climbing equipment on the fire escape or jitterbugging in the living room or having wheelchair races on the roof made the Greers wonder if they were crazy too.
But as Jesus said, to lose your life is to gain life. That has always been the model. And that is what Deb and Jeff did when they opened the AO. When people live outside themselves, they lead better lives. That is the fruit of the experience we cultivate here at the House.
Since the beginning, community and connection have grown naturally at the Alpha Omega House, flourishing with well-placed intention and leadership.
One of the tried and true ways to nourish that seed of community and connection is shared experience.
Part of shaping and guiding the community at the Alpha Omega House is creating opportunities for shared experience. For years it has enhanced our community connectedness at the House and added meaning to the lives of people within it.
Deb and Jeff have found that the connectedness people share from living here is the closest they have outside of marriage. It doesn’t always happen, but oftentimes it does. What’s important to them, is that the opportunity is available.
It was always the Greers’ wish to have a dinner table where conversation was open and where young people could talk about the person of Jesus. Even as the Greers hand their vision to the new directors and staff; the Alpha Omega House continues to be that place.
But it hasn’t always been this way.
It all started with the vision of a couple named Deb and Jeff Greer...
That in the midst of a caustic and corrosive environment, students might have a place of stability, a place of recess and familial presence. That with love, it would serve not to prevent choices and behaviors, but as a safe landing pad for students as they made them. That with the right place and the right leadership and the right support, it would be a sanctuary in which to experience security and love and the presence of God.
That was the vision.
A series of extraordinary philanthropic gifts and answered prayers made it possible for the Greers to move into a failing fraternity, a home in which they would embark on this epic venture.
It was a labor of love un-before seen. Floor by floor, room by room, the old frat was transformed into a thing of beauty. All the new carpet, refinished floors, repainted rooms and windows were part of the reclamation process, a journey of refurbishing the shell and cultivating the soul of what would be the Alpha Omega House.
Every step along the way was blessed with the generosity of friends and family. Never was a finger lifted or a dollar given that wasn’t given out of relationship.
After years of patience, persistence and many a miracle, Deb and Jeff opened the doors to a house that would serve as a missing link for college students at U of M.
It hasn’t always been easy.
Lots of people thought Deb and Jeff were crazy to willfully move in with 25 college kids. Those 2 a.m. mornings when students were practicing tap dances in the bathroom or using ice climbing equipment on the fire escape or jitterbugging in the living room or having wheelchair races on the roof made the Greers wonder if they were crazy too.
But as Jesus said, to lose your life is to gain life. That has always been the model. And that is what Deb and Jeff did when they opened the AO. When people live outside themselves, they lead better lives. That is the fruit of the experience we cultivate here at the House.
Since the beginning, community and connection have grown naturally at the Alpha Omega House, flourishing with well-placed intention and leadership.
One of the tried and true ways to nourish that seed of community and connection is shared experience.
Part of shaping and guiding the community at the Alpha Omega House is creating opportunities for shared experience. For years it has enhanced our community connectedness at the House and added meaning to the lives of people within it.
Deb and Jeff have found that the connectedness people share from living here is the closest they have outside of marriage. It doesn’t always happen, but oftentimes it does. What’s important to them, is that the opportunity is available.
It was always the Greers’ wish to have a dinner table where conversation was open and where young people could talk about the person of Jesus. Even as the Greers hand their vision to the new directors and staff; the Alpha Omega House continues to be that place.