Today's DAR
Reflecting on Opening Night and Beginning Business Sessions
Opening Night was a truly interesting and captivating evening. Alexander Rose, AMC and Barry Josephson are all doing amazing work to preserve our history and make it appealing to all people. We were so sad Ed Bearss couldn't be with us last evening, because of an emergency medical procedure but we are glad to hear he is doing well. Mr. Bearss turns 91 today and we will send him the video of last night's ceremony in addition to us singing him "Happy Birthday." It was a pleasure to welcome Marty Gane, Mr. Bearss good friend, to accept the award on his behalf. This is my 35th Continental Congress and the music and pageantry never fail to inspire me.
A Celebrate America! video highlighting members’ service over the past year was debuted last night. It was wonderful to see these ladies hard at work and to see the variety of different ways you are serving your communities.
Last night we revealed the total number of Celebrate America! service hours for 2013 and the grand total is: 4,760,314! I am completely floored by our members’ dedication to community service and can’t wait to see what we will achieve in the next two years! Remember you can enter your service hours on the Members’ Website using the Online Tally. The celebration of the 4.7 million hours of service will continue on Friday evening at Celebrate America Night.
Today we will begin the business sessions of the 123rd Continental Congress, where we will hear the reports of the Executive Officers.
Tonight I have the privilege of attending the Founders Club Dinner to share how we have been able to grow our Society because of their donations and thank them for their generosity.
This evening we will celebrate smart and driven young people during Education Awards Night. We will hear the American History Essay winners read portions of their essays and we will present the DAR Good Citizen Award, which is expanded this year to have two national winners because of a generous additional donation from Patricia Holvick who sponsors the National Good Citizen Award each year! Because of Mrs. Holvick’s generosity, we are able to help both an outstanding male and female pay for their college expenses. We will also recognize the American History Scholarship winner and the Outstanding Teacher of American History. We will be entertained by the All-American DAR Chorus. Concluding the ceremony will be the exciting presentation of the finalists for the Outstanding Junior Member contest.
If you won’t be with us this evening be sure to watch the live video stream online!