By: Pete Palestina, CPCU, Chapter President 1999-2000

To not get them done was my biggest fear

A theme was selected to use as a matrix

I went with "We Need to Get Back to the Basics"

I knew it would be difficult for us to work toward

Winning the prestigious Circle of Excellence Award

It wouldn’t be easy, I knew from the start

It would take a lot of hard work on each person’s part

If I treated Chairs kindly, would they suddenly get lazy?

Or should I crack the whip and drive them crazy?

Should I start out kind and become hard nosed later?

Be a kindly President, or a benevolent dictator?

If you said I was kindly, that might be far flung

I was no Jimmy Carter, more like Mao Tse Tung

All kinds of acronyms can be brought to mind

But let’s take a look at the bottom line

The Chapter is solvent, as well it should be

Thanks to our Treasurer Richard J. Lee

He made sure there was money for scholarships to be won

And today we’ll be granting three of them, not just one

The treasury was strengthened, the best year by far

Thanks to Cindy Wolkiewicz, not one, but five seminars

In February we rolled out, and hope you dug

Into your pocket, to buy our first chapter mug

And then in April and May, to our members delight

Not one, but two Chapter hats, tan or white

They are not that expensive and the profits go

To the scholarship program, as well you know

The Chaptergram and website are the Society’s best

To keep them up and running is really a test

But I’m just the caretaker and that I couldn’t do

Were it not for each and every one of you

Whether it was just a picture, like those I took today

You all contributed in your own little way

Now I know some of you would regurgitate or rail

Everytime I did a weekend update and sent you e-mail

But let’s admit it, did you find yourself yawning

To see that I sent it at 3 in the morning?

For Personal Sponsors we went to the mats

More than 25, thanks to Hoffstein and Katz

A successful I-Day we all worked toward

The same can be said for the Franklin Award

Val and Dave Shepherd kicked it up a notch

And Battisti in Italian said "Ki ne sach"

At Special Olympics Cynthia Gantz gave 3 cheers

We tripled our number of volunteers

No ID in the past, but we took care of that

This time we showed up wearing our Chapter hats

Ethics Awareness month was March, the traditional staple

We celebrated it twice, in March and April

I’d say the Society should definitely applaud

For already giving 3 speeches on Insurance Fraud

And to save money, as an added protector

The Chapter purchased an LCD projector

Now when we need one we won’t have to vent it

Like Rick did with those bills when we had to rent it

He took over PR under a great deal of stress

But Larry Crawford got those releases to the press

Ads on Fraud, releases on Ethics, hurricanes and Essays

Why Larry even sent the radio stations 10 PSAs

Thanks to Ann Myhr, our programs were tried and true

And if you don’t count today’s attendance, we averaged 82

Now Rina Williams, she gave me a tingle

No it’s not what you think, it’s the Mix & Mingle

Said the Membership Committee wanted to know whether

The Board would come up with the funding to put it together

It sounded so good that rather than punt

I said go ahead Rina, whatever you want

The new designees from the class of ’99

Really came through by volunteering their time

Chapter affairs were better resolved

When Pat, Mary Ann and Lilly got them involved

My quest this year for a researh project or two

Well I’ve got to thank Larry Gross for coming through

I feared the worst when it looked like he was late

But he got it filed by the deadline date

And next year we’ll have another to boast

As Sharon Ehrhardt is doing one about the Jersey Coast

I really don’t want to make a fuss

But how many Chapters are as successful as us?

An outstanding year, and praise the Lord

We qualified and filed for every possible award

How many Chapters can say they have a President that’s witty?

How many Chapters can say they have 36 Committees?

The year we had, I’ll never forget

I worked real hard, but never a regret

Eighteen years ago I had a great 1^st Vice President

And back then Phil Spinelli and I set all kinds of precedents

Now 18 years later, as President again

I have a 1^st VP just like Phil was then

Without their assistance we wouldn’t have had those fantastic years

So thanks Val and Phil, you are friends very dear

Now Val will take over, with more knowledge in mind

And perhaps a gentler leader, or one more kind

So one last word before I bid you adieu