Hello everybody, today my blog will be about the ARC Alliance’s award banquet.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, my friend received The Arc Alliance Volunteer Achievement Award at The Arc Alliance Award Banquet. Today I get to tell you all about the events of that night. The event was hosted by JP Mascaro and Sons in Audubon. There were about 100 people there including myself and Dr. Roche, the Assistant Superintendent of Spring-Ford High School. There were several volunteers supported by The Arc Alliance in one way or another, all coordinated by the volunteer coordinator, Carol Lawrence. I think she had the toughest job there, trying to keep track of all of us. It cannot be easy, but I give her credit. She does it and she does it very well. I know I couldn’t do it if I was in her position.

Because of my personality, Carol tasked me with greeting everyone as they came to the banquet hall doors. I had to tell them thanks for a coming and that their name tags will correspond with where they sit. But, sometimes the people would just give me enough time to say thank you for coming and then they would walk in the door. When I was done with that job, I went into the room. I got to sit with my friend Justin and his parents. As I said, Justin was the recipient of the Volunteer Achievement Award. Everybody ate dinner, the food was great, but the real reason we were there was to congratulate the recipients of the awards. The volunteer achievement award was presented first. Scott and I presented the award. Because it was my first time presenting an award in front of a lot of people, I was a little bit nervous. Scott spoke first on Justin’s work ethic. He talked about how when Justin does a task, he will not stop until the task he was presented with is 100% complete. I mentioned in my blog and talked about how Justin is one of those people that could change the world. Justin and his parents were very grateful for what I had said and it was my pleasure to be able to do that for them and The Arc Alliance.

Justin’s family and I have been friends for a long time, so it was nice to be able to present that award to him and his family. A lot of other people received awards as well. All of the speeches were very nicely put together and well-thought-out. Each one of the recipients really deserved their respective award. They’ve all worked diligently to get to the point that they are. Some people that I knew, besides Justin, received awards. It was a very nice event. Again, congratulations to all of the honorees. Since I received an award two years ago, it was very nice to be able to present one and I thank Scott for that opportunity.

The food was outstanding!

After the award ceremony, we all had dessert and it was delicious. I had a cannoli for the first time ever! The cannoli was especially yummy. There were a lot of delicious desserts there, but I didn’t have room for them all. It was a very nice night. I would go to it again even if I’m not presenting anything.

Have you ever received an award, if so, what for? I’m curious to read your answers. Yesterday was Memorial Day, did you do anything fun? Go swimming, play outside with your children, if you have any, or just relax? I want to hear about your Memorial Day. Yesterday my mom and I planted flowers; it was a lot of fun. I just hung out outside while mom planted. I hope you enjoyed your holiday. I know I did. Just a heads-up, my next blog will be my final blog for the school year. It will be a wrap-up of everything I’ve done this year for the Arc and what I’m going to be doing over the summer. So, look out for that. Until then, talk to you later and remember it only takes one person to change the world. Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.

Chandler 🙂