AN EVENING WITH FREEDOMS FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN AWARDS
Dr. Larry P. Arnn President, Hillsdale College & Dr. Rogers Smith Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania & The Philly Pops Frank Giordano, President & CEO
SPONSORED BY H.D. SMITH FOUNDATION
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2020
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Friends,
Welcome to our annual gala! We’re gathered (virtually) to confer the Distinguished Citizen Awards on this year’s exceptionally deserving recipients: Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College; Dr. Rogers Smith, past president of the American Political Science Association; and The Philly POPS, represented by CEO Frank Giordano. Each is a valued friend of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and a valiant defender of America’s founding ideals. I’m confident that General Eisenhower, who presented our first awards, would consider these honorees exemplary heirs of the tradition he established.
We gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions of our sponsors—in particular the H.D. Smith Foundation, tonight’s presenting sponsor, and board members Diane Deshong, Jordan Clements, Rick Griffith, and Sandy Cook, supporting sponsors. We also acknowledge our partnership with liv- ing recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor in action against an enemy force, represented on our board by Col. Joe Marm.
Ordinarily, we’d be gathering in spring, with the campus in bloom and the galleria abuzz with conviviality. Ordinarily, I’d welcome you in person, greet- ing you as you entered the Martha Washington Building. Ordinarily, we’d enjoy an evening of live entertainment, fine dining, and animated conversa- tion. But this year hasn’t been ordinary, has it?
Covid-19 and related restrictions required us to cancel all on-campus programs after March 15. The staff quickly pivoted, first to reschedule programs, then to provide online alternatives. We’re taking advantage of the hiatus to accelerate maintenance, repairs, improvements, and replace- ments. When the pandemic passes, we’ll be eager to welcome students and teachers back to campus for good, old-fashioned, low-tech, in-person, immersive, intensive educational experiences grounded in the power of place—this place, crucible of the American Revolution.
Cordially,
David Harmer ABOUT OUR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
We invite students and teachers from around the country to learn, study and respectfully debate on our campus. Our programs help participants understand the relevance of constitutional issues in their modern day-to-day lives. They learn that the spirit and philosophy of America are entrusted to all and they come alive each time people vote, or volunteer, or solve problems together civilly and responsibly.
IMPACT OF PROGRAMS
❐ Since 1949, 5 million students and 13,000 teachers reached with 60,000 hours of civic educational instruction ❐ 90% of students report being more open-minded ❐ 88% of all student alumni volunteer in their communities ❐ 98% of all alumni would recommend our programs to others SPIRIT OF AMERICA YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
This is a fast paced four-day residential program for high school students interested in cultivating a better understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship through thought-provoking, engaging activities. An experienced faculty and staff lead participants through an exploration of democracy, inspire them to develop leadership skills, and challenge them engage in the issues of contemporary American life. Activities include a mock congressional debate of liberty vs security, a Shark Tank inspired Free Enterprise Challenge, leadership workshops featuring the Medal of Honor Character Development and the Bill of Responsibilities plus visits to Philadelphia and Valley Forge.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS These popular college-accredited courses explore the relationship between America’s founding and its history since. Most courses are held on our Valley Forge campus with teachers learning from nationally recognized scholars and first person narratives who provide engaging, entertaining and interactive lectures. Courses include War on Terror, Presidency and Electoral Power, Teaching the Young Entrepreneur and off campus on the road courses on the Revolution, Civil War and Civil Rights Movement.
HISTORY ENCOUNTERS Schools custom-design these visits combining classroom time with tours of the most sacred ground of the American experience, from New York to Philadelphia to Washington D.C. Students of all ages walk the fields of Valley Forge, stand in front of the Liberty Bell, and reflect at Arlington National Cemetery. Along with tours, students learn from living history presenters from Thomas Jefferson to Harriet Tubman. 2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sally Brinton John C. Heenan Manager Director Ensign Pines Properties Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation Jordan Clements, Vice Chair Walter J. Marm Partner Medal of Honor Recipient Rock Creek Capital Jerry D. Poole Sandy Cook Founder and Director Sacramento Chapter Acrometis LLC Freedoms Foundation Christopher M. Rothey, Diane Deshong Chair Los Angeles County Chapter Vice President Freedoms Foundation Multifamily Product Solutions Comcast Richard S. Griffith, Treasurer Marvel Ruppel Founder Immediate Past President Image API AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary Forrest R. Hansen, Shelby Scarbrough Secretary Founder Special Counsel Practical Protocol Duane Morris LLP Dianne Sehler David J. Harmer, Former Senior Advisor President & CEO to the President Freedoms Foundation at The Lynde & Harry Bradley Valley Forge Foundation SCHEDULE
AN EVENING WITH FREEDOMS FOUNDATION Online Auction Open During Program
Welcome
National Anthem
Distinguished Citizen Award Presentation The Philly Pops Frank Giordano, President & CEO
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge Video
Distinguished Citizen Award Presentation Dr. Rogers Smith Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Personal Testimonial
Distinguished Citizen Award Presentation Dr. Larry P. Arnn President, Hillsdale College
Personal Testimonial
closing remarks
“god Bless america” FREEDOMS FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN AWARD
Since 1952, Freedoms Foundation has honored more than 260 outstanding individuals and organizations with the Distinguished Citizen Award for actions that demonstrate responsible citizenship and a life-time of service to their community. The Distinguished Citizen Award is reserved for those whose dedication to civic duty fulfills the highest ideals of our nation’s Founders. Recent recipients have included Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Drs. Jack and Pina Templeton, and Alan B. Miller. Among the notable past honorees were British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and teacher Jamie Escalante. All recipients have: ❐ Contributed to responsible citizenship as outlined in the Bill of Responsibilities ❐ Demonstrated outstanding achievement over a period of years. Made a significant contribution to their community, state or nation ❐ Served as an inspiration to others
The Board of Directors at Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge is honored to recognize Dr. Larry Arnn, Dr. Rogers Smith, and The Philly POPS as the 2020 recipients of our Distinguished Citizen Award. 2020 DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN AWARD RECIPIENTS
Dr. Larry P. Arnn is the president of Hillsdale College, where he is also a professor of politics and history. Under his leadership, Hillsdale has, among other initiatives, developed free online courses on the Constitution that are available to all Americans eager to learn more about their heritage. Dr. Arnn is on the board of directors of the Heritage Foundation, the Henry Salvatori Center of Claremont McKenna College, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Claremont Institute. Dr. Arnn has authored three publications: Liberty and Learning: The Evolution of American Education; The Founders Key: The Divine and Natural Connection between the Declaration and The Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It; and Churchill’s Trial: Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government.
Dr. Rogers Smith is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and is the immediate past president of the American Political Science Association. A dedicated scholar of the US Constitution, Dr. Smith has spent his career engaged with difficult questions around citizenship, race, immigration, and religion. Not only is his scholarship thoughtful and thought provoking, but he recognizes the need for civic education for all Americans, especially in the face of current political polarization. To that end, Professor Smith was founding Director of the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism (now the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy) where he developed faculty, graduate, and undergraduate workshop series, a publication series, and postdoctoral fellowships all producing and disseminating current scholarship covering topics on the understanding of democracy and the ongoing quest for democratic values, ideas, and institutions throughout the world. 2020 DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN AWARD RECIPIENTS
The Philly POPS, led by President and CEO Frank Giordano, is the largest standalone pops orchestra in the United States. Founded in 1979, The Philly POPS delights audiences with inspired performances of American popular music and celebrates this distinctive musical heritage through a wide array of initiatives. The Philly POPS’s free Salute Series celebrates the American tradition of service around important holidays. Along with their well-known POPS on the Parkway for July 4th, the POPS also perform an I’ll Be Home for Christmas concert to kick off the holiday season with free admission for active military, police, and fire department families. Bringing music to the Philadelphia Public Schools is also very important to the POPS. Launched in 2015, POPS in Schools, brings teaching artists into schools across Philadelphia to train, coach, and mentor music students. This program reaches approximately 2,000 students a year.
“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of o ernment n a republic hat species of no led e can be e ually important? And hat duty more pressin than communicatin it to those ho are to be the future uardians of the liberties of the country?”
PECO pwers leadership.
At PECO, we know the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. That’s why we support innovative math and science programs like our environmental education partnership that helps middle schoolers learn about energy conservation. We also contribute more than $150,000 annually in scholarships for limited income students, a great investment in our future workforce.
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FREEDOMS FOUNDATION GRACIOUSLY RECOGNIZES OUR AUCTION ITEM DONORS:
American Heritage Marie Ludwig Student Tours David McClain (Donna Tait) Darryl Moran American Historical Theatre (Steve Edenbo) Museum of the American Revolution Bonnie Anderson Panera Bread Vince & Amy Braccia Philly Gourmet Steaks Bob Cooney (Mimi Yang) Costco Wholesale Philadelphia Union Diane Deshong Jason Raia Dover International Shady Maple Speedway Sight & Sound Theatre Freedoms Foundation at Virginia Syverson Valley Forge Staff Target Frame Station Gallery Team Penske John Gould Legacy Art (Robert Gould) Turkey Hill Experience Eugene Halus Valley Forge Jacque Heebner Catering Henry A. Davidson FFVF Valley Forge Chapter Arch Hunter Brett Wasdick Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Williamson College Longwood Gardens of the Trades MAJOR DONORS 2019 AND 2020
AMVETS National Auxiliary Azeez Foundation Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Mr. Larry Brasher Mrs. Sally Brinton Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Clements Connelly Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Jim and Sandy Cook Mrs. Diane Deshong Mr. and Mrs. Patrick English Estate of William Broadbent Faith Foundation (Richard and Carrie Griffith) Foundation for Individual Liberty The HBE Foundation HD Smith Foundation Hoxie Harrison Smith Foundation Ivywood Fund Jessie Ball duPont Fund Improved Order of Red Men Dapeng Li Mrs. Kathleen L. McCarthy Lipstein Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Sandy Lipstein M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Malvern Bank, NA Mr. and Mrs. Alan Miller M. & Mrs. Barry Mower Ms. Katherine Naumann – Legacy Society Founding Member Pasadena Trust Mr. William O. Perry, III Psalm 103 Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Norman Shumway The Snider Foundation UHS of Pennsylvania, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Valiga Lula A. Walker Trust BILL OF RESPONSIBILITIES Preamble. Freedom and responsibility are mutual and inseparable; we can ensure enjoyment of the one only by exercising the other. Freedom for all of us depends on responsibility by each of us. To secure and expand our liberties, therefore, we accept these responsibilities as individual members of a free society: To be fully responsible for our own actions and for the consequences of those actions. Freedom to choose carries with it the responsibility for our choices. To respect the rights and beliefs of others: In a free society, diversity flourishes. Courtesy and consideration toward others are measures of a civilized society. To give sympathy, understanding and help to others: As we hope others will help us when we are in need, we should help others when they are in need. To do our best to meet our own and our families’ needs. There is no personal freedom without economic freedom. By helping ourselves and those closest to us to become productive members of society, we contribute to the strength of the nation. To respect and obey the laws. Laws are mutually accepted rules by which, together, we maintain a free society. Liberty itself is built on a foundation of law. That foundation provides an orderly process for changing laws. It also depends on our obeying laws once they have been freely adopted. To respect the property of others, both private and public. No one has a right to what is not his or hers. The right to enjoy what is ours depends on our respecting the right of others to enjoy what is theirs. To share with others our appreciation of the benefits and obligations of freedom. Freedom shared is freedom strengthened. To participate constructively in the nation’s political life. Democracy depends on an active citizenry. It depends equally on an informed citizenry. To help freedom survive by assuming personal responsibility for its defense. Our nation cannot survive unless we defend it. Its security rests on the individual determination of each of us to help preserve it. To respect the rights and to meet the responsibilities on which our liberty rests and our democracy depends. This is the essence of freedom. Maintaining it requires our common effort, all together and each individually. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US FOR
AN EVENING WITH FREEDOMS FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN AWARDS
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