Business Name Volume 4 Issue 1 ISLAND CHATTER, The Newsletter of the Washington Area Parrot Head Club 2009 Special points of in- From the Captain’s Chair terest: — by Libby Barker • Do you know how to earn FINS? What a year! I never fail to feel a little surprised, and a lot humbled, when I finalize • Do you know how to our annual report for Parrot Heads in Paradise contact Committee Members? (PHIP, our National Organization) each year. • Highlights from past events Yeah, I know that we do a lot of great things throughout the year, but I think we often fail to realize how much all of those things really do add up. Inside this issue: We helped raise $43,809 for charitable causes last year, and logged 664 State of the Club from 1 "parrothead" hours working for charity. We did it through big events, such as our the WAPHC President New Year's Eve Cruise, and support of the Fostering the Future Cruise, and through "grass roots" events that all of you helped plan and participate in such as WAPHC Celebrates July 2 4th with Island Style bike rides, walks, collections, clean-ups, and parties that really did have a purpose. WAPHC New Year’s Eve 3 We did it in our "free" time, when we weren't being consultants and Cruise computer programmers and public servants and teachers and lawyers and medical professionals and moms and dads and husbands and wives and the hundreds of WAPHC Supports the 4-5 other roles that each of us play in our busy lives. Oh, and while we were at it, we Police Unity Tour also gathered over 60 times in the past year just for "phun" (I quit counting at 60, I Mr. Buffett Goes to 6 think you get my point), but even then we did raffles and drives to support our Washington various causes. We built relationships that turned into friendships that turned into families; celebrated together; and supported those that needed support. Not so Tribute to Capt. Tony 7 shabby for a little "fan club"! Member Profiles 8-9 So, here we are at the start of another new year. What will next year's story tell, and what will we get to reflect on when we submit next year's report? I'm pretty excited about the possibilities. What you should know 10 about your So, to our outgoing Board members and Committee leads: Bob & Ginger MEMBERSHIP Weschler, Joanne Richcreek, John & Karen Kuch, Jan Holliday, and Julie Hovden, again, my heartfelt thanks for everything that you've done to support the club. ADS, articles, upcoming 11- To our returning Board members and Committee leads: Dale Akin, Rock events 12 Kulisch, Peter Chewning, Joanne Young, and Beth Olkowski, I also offer my heartfelt thanks for everything you've done, and I'm excited to see what you're gonna do to top it! And to our new Board members and Committee leads: Mari Jo Paul, Jeffrey Schweiger, Donna Kulisch, Joanne Richcreek, Drae Novak and Bob & Linda Soniak - thanks for stepping up, I'm excited to see what you're gonna do, and hang on, 'cuz it's a wild ride!! Volume 4 Issue 1 WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNED US ABOUT PAGE 2 WAPHC Celebrates 4th of July! - by Joanne Richcreek A float for the Fourth of July? Dodging oppressive heat and Why not? We had the carpen- thunder showers, the parade try skills, the remnants of a stepped off, with our WAPHC volcano, a trop rock band, float: a tiki bar and tropical enthusiastic volunteers, a theme, and lots of Jimmy Buf- dog, a truck, and a theme. fett music as we wound our What we didn’t have was way slowly through the streets time! Construction began offi- of the City of Fairfax, passing cially on 28 June, on the front out beads and good cheer as Mickey Bouma, Libby Barker, Julie Hovden and Bob lawn of the home of John we went. Everyone who saw Soniak pictured, as volunteers readied the WAPHC July 4 float... Kuch, and, in the very early us smiled, and shared our morning hours of July 4th, “tropical spirit” and camarade- Fairfax City, handed a brilliant Fox News anchor Holly Mor- rie. star-studded trophy to club ris had us live on Channel 5 member John Kuch. The That evening, with the New wearing a WAPHC Aloha WAPHC float had been England-based band Changes shirt while interviewing event awarded the Independence in Latitude providing the enter- lead John Kuch about what it Day Parade Committee tainment before the fireworks, is that defines a tropical life- Award for the float that best John Lederer, the mayor of style. commemorated the city’s 2008 Fourth of July festivities! It was an unforgettable day! Parade Leaders – John Kuch and Jennifer Talbot get ready to Lead the way for the WAPHC parade float…. The Entire WAPHC Float Cotillion– WAPHC Members and their Families, all turned out to help and march, and hand out beads and celebrate America’s Independence Day…. Volume 4 Issue 1 WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNEDWARNED US ABOUT PAGE 3 Another New Year’s Cruise a Huge Success - by MariJo Paul New Year’s Eve festivities started early at the bar inside our host hotel, the Sheraton Suites in Old Town Alexandria. Everyone at the Sheraton seems to know the Parrot Heads by now and go out of their way to make sure they have enough bartenders working. While cruisers were signing in, they joined others for drinks and appetizers. Raffle tickets were sold for chances to win one of the awesome baskets put together by our basket cases, Joanne R. and Drae. Ginger and other volunteers took turns manning the club store, selling cool beads, happy sharks and blinkies. All the while, a few of us were wondering, "is the boat actually going to leave the dock?" as the threatening winds kept blowing. Fortunately, winds died down just enough and just in time for us to head out on the Potomac. While some were munching on the heavy hors d’ouvres provided by Mango Mike’'s on one floor, others were having a hula hoop contest on another. Dancing and partying to Tom Principato and Key Lime Pie, heading back and forth to the bar for more adult beverages, served up by those awesome folks from Mango's who also take care of us so well, and visiting with our closest friends made New Years Eve another Parrot Head event to remember... Or at least one to have pictures of to try to jog our memories. As I toasted in the new year with my closest old friends and the new ones I met while cruising, I re- member (barely) thinking how lucky I was to be involved with such a fun group of people. The Cherry Blossom crew were very helpful, especially when we arrived back at the docks and were attempting to get everyone off the boat without anyone taking a nose dive into the frigid river! To top it all off, the New Years Eve cruise on the Potomac on the Cherry Blossom raised over $2,000 for our chosen charity, The Alzheimer's Founda- tion. A huge thank you to all of those who helped organize, set up, break down, and volunteer your time to help in any way to run this festivity! Volume 4 Issue 1 WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNED US ABOUT PAGE 4 2008 Police Unity Tour — by John Kuch been so tremendous in fact that we I weren’t cold enough one of my were just shy of a Corporate ride buddies pointed out the icicles Sponsorship. Someone shouted out hanging from the rafters of the old “How much are we short?” and I said train depot under which we were that I wasn’t sure but I thought it was staging. Yes, really, I have the about $250.00. At that instant money pictures. literally started flying through the air! By the time all was said and done not After the opening ceremony we only had the WAPHC gained Corporate started out for our first leg of the Sponsor status but it pushed my total journey which, thankfully, was just to over $2100.00 with WAPHC a 25 mile warm-up, no pun The Police Unity Tour is an contributing three quarters of the intended. I am sure that the ride annual cycling event held at the fundraising. The true spirit of Parrot would have been wonderfully beginning of National Police Heads was alive and well in that room entertaining if the weather had not Week every year and is a on that evening. been so miserable. We went past fundraiser to benefit The some very old portions of the city National Law Enforcement and some wonderful landmarks. Officer’s Memorial and to honor The very beginning paralleled the our fallen brothers and sisters sea wall adjacent to the Statue of that have been killed in the line Liberty. At least I think it was, it of duty. Two groups start out, was hard to tell through the rain one from Liberty Park in New and clouds. We had a few Jersey and one from moments of levity as we rode past Chesapeake, Virginia to make a the bus stops watching, literally, 300 and 250 mile trip, umbrella after umbrella turn itself respectively, arriving in D.C. on inside out. The trash cans looked May 12 th to ride as one into the like porcupines with all of the Law Enforcement Memorial.