Message from the Co-Chairs
OPALGA’s 12th Annual Gala, “Twelfth Night,” is literally only a few days away. For many of our members, their only involvement with the party is to show up and enjoy all aspects of the event—drinks, good food, live and silent auctions, raffle, dancing to outstanding music, and so on. The guests then go home, everyone agrees that it was a great time, and life goes on.
“Twelfth Night,” while held at our most spectacular setting ever, cannot be summed up so simply, however. Many members had asked why we didn’t move the Gala out of the crowded month of June, and this year we complied. No more conflicts with graduation, Father’s Day, Pride month, and Chicago’s always-hectic summer social schedule. Yet this meant that a normal 12-month planning cycle had to be condensed by 3 or 4 months in order to accommodate our April 5 date at The Hyatt Lodge in Oak Brook. That date was chosen because the Gala Planning Committee wanted to go back to Saturday night, again as requested. Because so many people had to work so hard in order to pull off this huge feat, I am devoting this column to publicly thanking them for their efforts.
Every great team has a leader, and this year’s Gala Planning Committee had two of them—J. Lee Latham and Rick Whitehead. When I envisioned them working together to chair the Gala, I knew instinctively that their personalities would blend and that the end result would be terrific. So, with an investment of pizza and two or three bottles of red wine, Lee and Rick agreed to chair the event. The results were predictable—the meetings were enthusiastically attended, well-run, and everyone involved knew his or her assignment and ran with it. Lee and Rick, you have done a great job, given tremendous service to OPALGA, and made me very proud.
Their supporting cast, however, was equally superb. Heading up the Table Captain effort were Greg Raub and Jeanette Mancusi, and these two were amazing. From the initial brunch in February up until the evening itself, Greg and Jeanette handled every aspect of the Table Captain area with great attention to detail. Similarly, Rick McVey and Sherrie Wolfe coordinated the entire raffle/auction prize area, which looks to be hitting new heights this year. It is a thankless job to obtain all of these prizes, but this is the third year in which these two have performed this task, and we owe them a tremendous thank you. Soliciting, cataloging, arranging, and grouping all of the various prizes is a huge undertaking, and Rick and Sherrie do all of this while serving as Directors on the OPALGA Board and working full-time jobs. You both rock! Dan Fountaine and Dan Salotti also volunteered in this area and were valuable assets to the team. Adding her expertise to soliciting ads and sponsorships was Donna Karpavicius, who brought experience and skill to her tasks. Two other Board of Directors members, Davida Williams and JoAnn Ziebarth, also served on the committee and shared their expertise in a number of different areas. And, because new blood is so essential to putting on a great event, I want to personally thank Gregg Sewell and Michael Smith for their contributions as well. They will hopefully both continue to be involved with future Galas, and OPALGA will reap the benefits.
Finally, a couple of special thank-you messages that need particular emphasis. First, my OPALGA Co-Chair, Liz Stallone, handles all of the printing for the Gala along with her partner, Nancy Sexton. I know for a fact that people have no idea how stressful this can be, with constant attention to deadlines, editing, re-editing, and so on. Yet, at each Gala, guests can count on terrific Program Books, auction inserts, bid cards, and related materials, and never stop to think how much work goes into producing each of these items. Then, when you factor in the invitation and all of its components, the Gala achieves its look thanks in no small part to Nancy and Liz and their wondrous “elves” at Carnegie Printers. They make all of OPALGA look good, and I thank each of them for their professionalism and work ethic. Not only that, but much of their time and effort is donated to the organization, which is service above and beyond the call of duty.
Last but not least is the effort put forth by our two wonderful staff members, Susan Abbott and Jan Hannigan. Susan and Jan always crank it up a notch or two when the Gala rolls around, and yet everything seems to get done in the office as well. Dealing with members, making reservations, handling dinner requests, logging in prizes—these all seem minor when viewed individually, but there is a huge amount of detail work involved in putting on a major event. Susan and Jan, there is nothing like a friendly voice when a member calls about the Gala, and each of us appreciates all that you do, year-round, to keep our organization running. Now, however, for the Gala, I thank you both on behalf of the entire membership.
We have been talking all year about the Gala being “more than just a party.” Because of the efforts of all of the people mentioned in this column, it is truly that and more. So, when you run into any of the people mentioned above, give them your own personal thanks—trust me, they have each earned it!
See you at “Twelfth Night.” And remember—“IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON.”
