Hammer AZA

From Wikibbyo

Armand Hammer AZA #2414, also known simply as Hammer is an Aleph Zadik Aleph chapter located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. It is one of six active AZA chapters in the Great Midwest Region #61, and one of two AZA chapters currently serving the Buffalo Grove area.

Namesake

Hammer AZA is named for Jewish philanthropist Armand Hammer. Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American industrialist and art collector. Hammer was CEO of the Occidental Petroleum Company, an oil and natural gas exploration and development company. He was a philanthropist, supporting causes related to education, medicine, and the arts. Among his legacies is the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West (now generally called the UWC-USA, part of the United World Colleges). He embraced a kind of Victorian view of world affairs, in which personal relationships could overcome geopolitical tensions. Hammer bragged that he was the only man to have known both Vladimir Lenin and Ronald Reagan.

Mascots and Colors

The teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been the chapter's mascot for several years. More recently, Alephs of the chapter named Chuck Norris its second mascot. This is due, most likely, to the popularity of the websites promoting "Chuck Norris Facts." These websites attested to Chuck Norris's extreme manliness. Whereas the opening cermonies of AZA business meetings clearly state that an Aleph devotes his youth to becoming a "Manly Man," Norris seemed a fitting choice for chapter mascot.