Thursday, July 28, 2016

20/20/20

This is a note to my FOB-JEK friends. It's not limited to those who served/serve though, so I'm sharing with everyone I know in the ways I have available to me.
 
Frank O'Bannon had a profound effect on me. He made me a better person. Judy, at least, made me behave better.
 
I'll never forget the day Joe came down to my desk and sat with me to edit a state of the state speech. I didn't know him well, and when the sitting LT Gov. came into my office unannounced, with his notes and in his shirtsleeves, sat down like he was a colleague, I just about died. And then we worked together, laughed a little bit, and polished more than a few paragraphs.  I didn't get the chance to know Maggie as well, but the few times I was around her, she was gracious and super smart.
 
If any of that fabulous foursome touched your life in as positive way – as they did mine –
I know you want to take a moment to tip your hat to them. I have a great way for you do to that virtually, but in a really meaningful way. We’re calling it the 20/20/20.
 
It came about because my friend J
onathan Swain and I were on the phone the other day. He'd done the math to mark 20th year milestone. We thought we shouldn’t let the year go without comment but we didn’t know that we should interfere with the very important races underway. Everyone’s already so busy, so tapped out. We didn’t think FOB or JEK would want to mess with the focus.
 
But hey, what if we do more than reminisce on our own? We talked with Tina Dennis Noel and Jeff Harris. And we came up with the 20/20/20.
 
Give $20 to Gregg-Hale in honor of FOB-JEK.
Find 20 other folks you used to work with and ask them to sign on to 20/20/20.
Raise $20K for John and Christina.
 
It'll be a great, albeit virtual, reunion.
 
Hope you can help. And if you unearth old friends who want to connect – share their email and we'll continue the reunion. Maybe even in person one day.
 
 
The form is standardized at other amounts. Use the blank amount if you want to donate $20 to this cause. Whatever you want to give, if you can give, will be gratefully accepted.

There are tons of FOB-JEK folks who have deeper, longer ties than mine. If you are one of them and you see this, please think through your Rolodex and send to as many folks as you want.
No harm in going beyond 20, right? :)

2 comments:

Tina Noel said...

Great idea, friends.

Tina Noel said...

Great idea, friends.