Service From The Heart!

The final Board Meeting was this morning after breakfast. It only took about an hour . By the time they get to the final meeting, everything has been decided so they mainly just adopt all the committee reports and resolutions. They did have to vote on the 2014 LCI Convention city, they awarded the bid to Toronto, Canada.

We walked over to lunch at Grand Central Terminal with Eugenio & Ibis, Greg & Patty, and Joe & Eileen. Patty found us a table in the food court (she spied a foursome who were getting up to leave and jumped right over), and we all had food from different stands. Eugenio and Ibis had Chinese, and we split an Italian sandwich and canoli. Joe and Eileen came back with some great looking chili dogs. Eugenio had been wanting to buy a hotdog on the street (but Ibis would have been too cold so we decided to dine in), so I ran over and got another chili dog for us to split. It was great!

The afternoon was free, so we went shopping near the hotel with Eugenio and Ibis (the Director and spouse from Puerto Rico). We had a great time, but probably went a little overboard. We found suits on sale at K&G, so Debra bought a beautiful silver dress and trenchcoat type suit, and I bought a dark blue pinstripe suit and also a very nice leather suit length coat. I’m sure they’ll all get lots of wear over the next couple years though, and the prices were really good.

The Final Night Gala Reception was at the hotel ballroom. Board Appointee Angelo Purcigliotti is in a “Big Band”, and they provided the entertainment. A lot of Sinatra and Darrin mixed in with Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, and other big band sounds. Very nice dance music for most of the bunch; a little before our time. but we had fun.

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Today was Lions’ Day at the UN. We had never been to one before, so this was a very special day for both of us. We got to sit in the big conference room, listen to the Secretary General, hear about many Lions programs in cooperation with the UN, listen to Bojan and Olga sing, and see and hear a young girl from California who was the International Peace Poster winner. She is a very articulate and artistic young lady. We also ran into DG Jim Mulroy from 5M7 and DG Don Borque and Paul from 23A in Massachusetts. It was a real treat to see each of them in NYC. And all that was before lunch!

At lunch, we sat with the Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations from Luxembourg. He was a very interesting and nice young man. His father is a Lion, so he knew a bit about us. We asked if he was a Lion; he wasn’t, so we suggested he start a Lions Club at the UN Building. We were joined by a PDG couple from Pennsylvania and about 5 Lions from Luxembourg! What fun!

After lunch, we went back to the conference room for more presentations. We heard from Alejandro Wolff, the Deputy Permanent U.S. Representative to the UN. He gave a very straight forward talk about the US relationship with the UN, both in the recent path, and now going forward with the Obama Administration. He is hopeful that the UN can be more effective, but doesn’t dismiss all the difficulties and lack of authority that really plague the process.

Afterwards, we got a very nice tour of the UN Building. They are closing it to the public soon for about a seven year remodeling project, so we were very fortunate to have been there this year. The building has many very interesting displays about the history of the UN, patterns of colonialism, nuclear disarmament, and much more.

The evening was free, so we went back to Times Square with the Loziers, Spencers, and Doc & Christie. We at dinner at the ESPN Zone, and had a great time exploring the Hershey Store, the M&M Store, Champs, etc. and just taking in the atmosphere on a busy Friday night!

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Today, Debra had the Board of Directors Informal Hearings. That is where each committee gives its report and proposed resolutions. The other members of the Board have the opportunity to ask questions, express concerns, etc. and everything gets hashed out before the final board meeting where all the reports and resolutions are adopted. This is usually a very intense, long, day.

Meanwhile, the spouses had a carriage ride through Central Park to the Boathouse where we did our map activity, had a luncheon, and were entertained by two dancers from Julliard. It’s rough duty, but someone has to do it! Actually, we spouses have been getting tired of the Directors all whining about how tough they have it, and how we always get to do all the fun stuff. That’s true, of course, but we had to stand up for ourselves and demand equal opportunity whining. Today, many of us trekked miles through the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Boy, were our feet killing us!

The Met was fantastic, though. We only had about an hour and a half, but we had an excellent docent. She led us to a selected piece and then stopped to give a very full explanation of its artistic qualities as well as its significance in relation to the times, before scurrying off to the next area of the museum. My favorite pieces were the impressionist paintings. I got transfixed by Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” (Two cut sunflowers). The sunflower series had never been among my favorite Van Gogh’s, but seeing it in person (and not even under glass) really grabbed me in a very visceral way. I could just feel his passion as the light glistened off the ridges of his powerful brush strokes. I had a hard time taking my eyes off of it to look at the “Cypresses” on the adjacent wall (one of my favorite Van Gogh’s), and I nearly missed out on seeing the Monet’s in the next room. Monet has long been my favorite artist, and I think I could spend several days in there, just taking them in; and then the rest of a week savoring the other impressionists.

The evening UN Ambassadors’ Reception and Dinner was very nice. It was at the “Water Club”, aptly named because it sits right over the Hudson River.

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Another full day of committee meetings for Debra, another full day of the best New York has to offer for Steve.

The spouses went to visit the American Federation for the Blind in the morning. That was very interesting, especially as I have worked for so long in the field of blindness. We had a continental breakfast there, and then a tour of parts of the facility including their museum displays and the archives. There we saw the very first printed words written by Helen Keller as well as her typewritten, hand annotated copy of her speech to the LCI Convention in 1925. We also saw a letter from then Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Helen Keller, and her hand printed reply on the back asking FDR to “autograph” the letter (he had neglected to sign it) because she felt that he may be “the next president of the free and the brave”. Among the other artifacts in the archives was the first book ever machine embossed in braille, PRECIS SUR L’HISTOIRE DE FRANCE. I actually got to put my fingers on the page and read braille that may well have been read by Louis Braille himself!

Lunch for the spouses was at Metrazur in Grand Central Terminal, and was just spectacular! I took a copy of the menu so I could later see what I had eaten: First Course of Citrus Risotto (citrus risotto, olive oil poached tomato, fragrant herb oil), Main Course of Seared Scallops (shaved fennel, orange sea beans salad, warm calamarata nero, garlic orange emulsion), and Dessert of Chocolate “Duo” (milk chocolate and peanut crunch pave, white chocolate ice cream, black currant chutney). I’m still not sure what orange sea beans salad and warm calamarata nero are, but it was all very delicious!

After lunch, about half of us spouses went to the matinee performance of “The Lion King” at the Minskoff Theater on Broadway. It was truly amazing! You can see pictures and video clips of the giraffes and other animals, but until you actually see them marching down the aisles and up on stage, you have no idea how incredible it all is. The opening number alone, was worth the price of admission!

After that long day of hard work, the Directors and Spouses all got together for a coctail party at LVMH Moet Hennessy Luis Vuitton Inc. LVMH is a very upscale company dealing in luxury brands, and they are also very interested in philanthropic causes, especially for the benefit of children and the environment. As Lions implement several programs related to children and the environment, the partnership has been very beneficial to both organizations. The Moet Champaigne was VERY good!

This was also “Report Night”, so we were up after midnight as Debra read all the various committee reports and resolutions in preparation for the “Informal Hearings” to come tomorrow.

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Today began with the usual family breakfast in the Commodore Grill at the Grand Hyatt. They have a buffet breakfast, they had very good pastries, and a “yoghurt martini” that we have every morning. It has yoghurt with fruit on the bottom and granola on the top, and yes, it is in a martini glass.

Debra had her committee meeting from 9:00 - 4:30 today, while the spouses went touring. We visited St. Patrick’s Cathederal first, it’s very beautiful, both inside and out. They had some scaffolding around part of the exterior, as they seem to be doing some maintenance, but that didn’t detract at all from the intricate beauty of the spires and stained glass windows.

We took a tour of Rockefeller Center. Highlights included the the sculptures of Atlas carrying the world (actually more of an armillary) and Prometheus stealing the fire. We went inside to tour the NBC Studios, observing the newsroom in action and seeing the SNL set among others.

Lunch was up in the Rainbow Room. That offered spectacular views of NYC, including the Hudson River where the plane recently landed. We had some very interesting salads in New York; this one was beets cut in long thin strips coated with some horseradish over asparagus and garnished with cream cheese disks.

The spouses’ Lions’ seminar consisted of Rachel Johnson, Helena Rahko, and Sunita Malpani each presenting about special Lions activities in their districts. The entertainment was provided by a Russian student at Julliard who played some magnificient piano pieces by Chopin and Rachmanninoff.

The Directors and spouses all went on a dinner cruise around Manhattan Island. This was the “class” dinner, with the first year directors were on one boat, and the second year on another. We sailed by the “Intrepid” aircraft carrier and the Concorde before it got dark. After dinner, it was especially fun to see the city all lit up at night from the river. The bridges were very beautiful, and we went very close to the Statue of Liberty, which was also lit.

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This was the first official day of the Board Meeting. Debra’s Service Activites Committee met in joint session with the Membership Development and Public Relations Committees in the morning, and then for a short meeting alone after lunch.

The spouses’ program for the morning was a visit to Carnegie Hall. It was very interesting to see some of the historical artifacts that they have displayed. They have a lot of photos, musical scores, lyrics, etc from famous people. They had a score written in Beethoven’s own had, and right next to it was the last stanza of “Turn, Turn, Turn”, hand written by Pete Seger — very eclectic. The highlight of the visit, though, was hearing Olga Sober (ID Bojan’s wife) sing in the auditorium. She is a professional opera singer with a remarkable soprano voice. She had all the people who work there stopping in awe.

The spouses lunch was at Carnegie Hall. We had a very interesting apple salad, followed by chicken and fish with green beans and great rice pilaf with beans, nuts and craisins. Entertainment was provided by three students from the Julliard School who sang some show tunes.

The spouse seminar was about UNICEF and Lions. We had presentations on the “School in a Box” and the “Believe in Zero” programs. LCI wants us spouses to be able to speak about Lions’ projects when we accompany the Directors on convention visits. I think that’s not only a good way to satisfy the IRS, but what we should be doing.

The opening board meeting was at 2:30. That’s the only session that spouses and other people attend. It’s mostly ceremonial, but always interesting. Debra was quite surprised when she was recognized with a 2 diamond progressive Melvin Jones Fellowship.

We went out onto Long Island for the Host Night, sponsored by the Lions of MD20. That was a very nice evening with a good dance band. We sat at a table with ID Shinji and Machiko Kayamori from Japan. Their english is not very good, so I spent some time trying to learn Japanese from Machiko. We made a little progress; now I can order white or red wine in Japanese, as well as say the words for ‘green’ and for ‘water’. You never know when that will come in handy. I do know that Machiko enjoyed our making the effort.  The New Yorkers at our table were very nice, one was a current VDG and another a PDG, both received awards during the evening.

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The day began with a ferry boat ride to Ellis Island. This was the first time either of us had been there, so it was quite informative. They had some very nice displays of immigration patterns over the years as well as some very moving human interest artifacts and exhibits. Several of the members of our group were able to find family member’s names on the “Wall of Honor” which displays the names of people who donated money for the preservation of the island. We found out that you can check for the names of people who came through Ellis Island on www.ellisisland.org.

We took the ferry back across to Battery Gardens, where we had lunch and a seminar on Lions’ involvement after 9/11 by PID John Wargo. Afterwards, we went on a tour of “Ground Zero”. Now it is essentially a construction site, as they are working on the memorial. It is obvious that it holds many emotional memories for all New Yorkers. We had a very good audio tour that had a lot of clips from survivors, so that really brought it to life for those of us who had only seen it on TV.

The evening was free, so a group of us walked down to Times Square. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and took some pictures of all the lights. It was very fun to get back together with our fellow board members. It’s going to be a great week!

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We got up early this morning, then drove to Steve’s brother Brian’s in Apple Valley. His mother was visiting from Virginia, and was flying home on a 10:15 flight, so we wanted to take her to the airport as our flight out to New York left at 10:50. Steve’s sister, Diana, had come down from Brainerd the night before with her daughter, Adrianne and her two boys. We had a nice, but short, visit before leaving for the airport.

We had a very nice two hour flight to New York. We were met at the baggage claim area by two very nice lady Lions from Queens. They helped us with luggage and phoned our driver, who was there shortly. Our driver was another Lady Lion. She took us on a scenic tour of some of the neighborhoods on the way to mid-town manhattan. She wasn’t real sure of the directions she had gotten from her daughter, but she did a great job of getting us to the hotel.

The evening activity was dinner in Little Italy. We had about an hour to walk around, savor the neighborhood, and do a little shopping. We bought a gift for Debra’s sister-in-law, Judy, and looked at a lot of purses.

Dinner at Sal Anthony’s restaurant was quite a feast! They must have had about 8 different courses. There were mussels, clams, tomatoes, and other appetizers. Then a small pasta course followed by the antipasta, at which point we were starting to get full. Of course, the entrees followed: fish, chicken, and veal. And eventually, a dessert buffet: cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and canoli among other things in which we didn’t indulge. I think we probably ate enough food for a week at home! Everything was sooooo… good though!!