What a Night!
By Pattyl Aposhian-Kasparian

hat-a-night/
Apr 16th, 2010

Wow. What a night! After diligently planning for the last few months,
the Armenian Cultural Foundation hosted its Annual Banquet on Sunday,
April 11. A full capacity crowd of more than 700 people were in
attendance. The Master of Ceremonies, activist Charles Ghailian,
engaged the audience as this year’s theme, Together, We Serve and
Preserve, ran strong throughout the Program.

The lights dimmed and the crowd grew silent as a video was projected
onto four screens highlighting the accomplishments of the ACF family
in the past year.

The rest, anyone can report. Food was great. Crowd mingled. We turned
away attendees due to space constraints. We reached our fundraising
potential. It was a great event!

Above all this, there are two areas which deserve to be highlighted.

The Committee

The Keynote Address

The Committee was comprised of some of the community’s movers and
shakers. Each committee member was appointed for a reason – be it
fundraising, background, knowledge, clout, marketing sense or style.
One common denominator was the Committee’s `roll up your sleeves and
work’ mentality.

As the marquee event of the year, standards were to be upheld. Yet,
when the Organization continues to stress the importance of prudency
and efficiency, the Committee was faced with some tough choices. We
started with visions of gold-plated silverware, white glove service
and a 90210 zip code – all for a triple digit price tag. We concluded
with style, elegance and the comfort of home and exercised rationality
with chic sophistication.

Time Magazine called this era `The Decade from Hell’ and `when you are
going through hell,’ Winston Churchill advised, `keep going.’ That’s
what the Committee did. We kept going. In the face of one of the worst
global economic downturns in history, the Protocols, empty promises
from President Obama and a razor thin win in the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, we kept going. Blow after blow. Promise after promise.

The Keynote Remarks delivered by Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Bureau member Dr. Viken Hovsepian served as the highlight of the
event. I often want to thank our speaker – not for his volunteer hours
and leadership, but for treating the community as they should be
treated – as knowledgeable and passionate members with opinions. Our
organization does not look down at its members. It provides us with
resources, opportunity and education. The ACF empowers the community
and allows supporters to grow. It takes pride in watching them speak
and defend their own opinions.

That’s exactly what our Keynote Speaker did Sunday evening.

Our rights.

The importance of agreement

Our purpose

Our goal

The Armenian identity

Unity

Mentioned above were the running themes to Hovsepian’s remarks.

To any knowledgeable and unbiased supporter, it’s simple. It’s
powerful, structured, comprehensive, rational and valid. It’s the
building blocks we need to continue the activities we do for our
community.

In one of my past articles, I noted Helen Keller, `The most pathetic
person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.’

Thank you for our vision!

As for the organizing committee, on a personal note – I couldn’t imagine
working with you when we were first appointed. Now, I can’t imagine
working without you! Go Red Go!