Message from the President January, 2015
The beginning of a new year is a good time to pause for a few minutes and review what we’ve done.
In 2014 Living Legends participated in the George Washington Birthday Parade (we took First Prize in the Seniors category) and the Scottish Christmas Walk. We held major photo exhibitions at Alexandria City Hall, Prudential PenFed Realty (now Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty), the Alexandria Black History Museum, St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub and BB&T Bank. Our traveling exhibition appeared at the George Washington Birthday breakfast and concerts of the Alexandria Symphony and the Washington Metropolitan Symphony. We hosted the Meet the Legends reception in March and MetroStage Theater Night in September where we honored the Legends who were active in Civil Rights in Alexandria in the 60s. We collaborated with the Black History Museum on two programs. One, Civil Rights Saturday, featured Howard Feinstein, author of Fire on the Bayou: True Tales from the Civil Rights Battlefront and a storytelling/bookmaking activity led by artist/educator Sushmita Mazumdar and the other, an interactive activity teaching families about Civil Rights locally and nationally. We provided photos of six women Legends for display at the Alexandria Commission for Women’s “Salute to Women.” In collaboration with the Old Town Business and Professional Association, we created a tabletop exhibition of Alexandria’s business Legends to show at Volunteer Alexandria’s Philanthropy Summit. We were nominated (but alas didn’t win this year) for a Best in Business award by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. And in September, Board members and Legends participated in the dedication of Legend bricks installed at King Street Gardens Park. And finally, the board has recently completed the daunting task of selecting the Legends of 2015. You can read a paragraph about them elsewhere in this newsletter and meet them personally at the “Meet the Legends” reception on March 19.
We are continuing to work with volunteer students from Northern Virginia Community College on edited versions of their videotaped interviews of the 2014 Legends. Inspired by Kathleen Baker, we initiated collaboration with MacArthur and Barrett Elementary Schools’ PTA’s Reflections programs. In this pilot project, students and parents had an opportunity to hear from and interact with some of our Living Legends.
Throughout the year, feature stories of the 2014 Legends were published by our media partners: the Alexandria Gazette Packet, AlexandriaNews.Org, The Zebra and LocalKicks.
In this year of transition from leadership by founder Nina Tisara to professional management by Potomac Management Resources, we launched a new website, www.LivingLegends.org, and new designs for our newsletter and letterhead. And importantly, we initiated an on-line opportunity for monthly donations. Please take a moment to sign up now to help us fulfill our mission in the year to come.
Hope to see you at George Washington Birthday Parade where we’ll honor Alexandria’s first Legend.