By MICHAEL SELBY, Eastern Michigan ’02 and KYLE GALLAGHER, West Chester ’13

How would you celebrate a milestone birthday? Imagine you’re turning 40, and your brothers want to celebrate along with you. Perhaps you meet at a nice restaurant, or head to your favorite sports venue for a game. But if you’re Eric Bull, ’95, and his brothers from Bentley, you’re heading to the Dominican Republic to volunteer with a dozen of your best friends.

Two decades after graduating, the men from Bentley are closer than ever. This connection has remained strong even in the face of their chapter’s closure.

The closing of a chapter can be incredibly difficult, especially for alumni. Although their chapter could no longer welcome them at homecoming or on game days, brotherhood never faded for Bull and his brothers

What started as an e-mail among brothers became a service trip to SunCampDR in the Dominican Republic. “Let’s get away to celebrate our 40th birthdays … and let’s help some people in a big way while we do,” wrote Bull. The SunCampDR organization, located in Puerto Plata, assists less fortunate children, specifically Haitian refugees.

The 12 brothers arrived at the camp with 15 large suitcases bulging with baseball gloves, bats, shoes, soccer balls, footballs, not to mention a set of golf clubs. They brought art supplies, books, necklace-making kits, clothes and stuffed animals. Jeff Solomon, ’96, had 70 children’s t-shirts made with the Balanced Man logo on the front and the number 34 emblazoned on the back to honor Dominican-American baseball player David Ortiz. The men played soccer with the kids, carried them atop their shoulders and were touched by their smiles.

“It was an amazing, rewarding experience that I will never forget,” said Joshua Prost, ’95. There has already been talk about going back, perhaps in greater numbers.

Their service is a testament to their first moments in the Fraternity, moments that endure whether a chapter is open or closed. Although the chapter is gone from Bentley’s campus, the brothers’ values and sense of the Balanced Man Ideal remain very much alive.