I’m still recovering from the Lombardi Gala last night, but more on that later…
Needless to say, the early part of the week was dominated by Hurricane Sandy. Like everybody else, Harriet and I hunkered down on Sunday, and then waited out the storm on Monday. Fortunately, our house escaped damage and we never lost power, though we did have a small amount of tree damage on our property. This region overall got very lucky.
My jury duty was cancelled on Monday because of the storm, and as a result my name was tossed back into the pool for a later time. So, although GUMC was closed on Tuesday, I was able to continue working on my parts of the CCSG renewal, and snuck into work to determine if there was significant damage in the Lombardi S-Level or elsewhere. Fortunately, everything was fine. Of course, the storm cut a devastating swath across New Jersey and New York City, as if we needed additional reminders about the power of nature and its impact on human existence.
The excuse from jury duty freed up my week, and I used it to work on the CCSG renewal. There is so much to do; every time I feel as if I have polished off one task, another one is waiting for me, in a perverse electronic Conga line. But, it’s good to be getting the grant into shape with more than six months to go to the submission date!
And then there was Saturday night. The 26th annual Lombardi Gala was just wonderful. It was beautifully organized, and went off without a hitch. We had more than 800 attendees and, while the final results are not yet in, I am optimistic that we did well in the fundraising department. The silent auction was simply fantastic. Harriet and I bid on a ton of items and did our very best to win them, but were beaten out at the end by other bidders, with the exception of one surprise item I bought for her. In this case, competition was great, because it meant more money for Lombardi!
The talks were really on point. Our three gala co-chairs – Paul Schweitzer, Brian Katz and Jill Fitzpatrick — were represented by Jill, who touched everyone by describing the toll cancer has taken on her family. Barbara Schaefer McDuffie was the recipient of the Margaret L. Hodges Leadership Award, and gave a brief, eloquent and moving talk about her passion for our cause.
Georgetown was well represented in remarks by Jack DeGioia and Howard Federoff, and I tried to rally the attendees with a story about the potential impact of Dick Schlegel’s work in conditional cell reprogramming. DeMaurice Smith of the NFL Players Association introduced the recipient of the NFL Players Association Georgetown Lombardi Award, Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots. Mr. Kraft lost his beloved wife Myra to ovarian cancer about 15 months ago. His moving remarks were rendered more poignant by a video featuring members of the Patriots such as Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork, and others.
This year’s Gala received a bit more media attention than previously because of Mr. Kraft’s involvement. And those of you who follow sports news will understand that it was interesting to be in the same room with De Smith, Robert Kraft and Paul Tagliabue. Paul is former NFL commissioner, current chair of the Georgetown University Board of Directors and, like De Smith, a great friend of Lombardi.
And to top it off, at my table sat Vince Lombardi II and his wife, Sally Sue; Vince is coach Lombardi’s grandson. You all know how much I enjoy sports, so being in the thick of all these personalities was great fun. I’ve included a picture from the evening below.
At the end of it all, this was a simply great evening for Lombardi, and for our mission.
None of this would have happened without the exceptional work of our many volunteers, and the tireless efforts of our Advancement staff and by all of you who do the important work that inspires them. But I would be remiss if I did not call out the extraordinary work of Elena Jeannotte and her colleagues Justin Baskerville, Allison Horton and the rest of the Lombardi Advancement team, and our communications team led by Karen Mallet and Lauren Wolkoff. They put in countless hours, and we owe them our thanks and wishes for a little R & R!
The coming week’s schedule does not appear to contain natural disasters or galas. However, I am sure it will not be boring!
Have a great week.
