February 22, 2016

Absence makes the heart grow fonder…

On Friday I missed the first agency event of my four year tenure.  I hated it.  At the same time, by all accounts, the 2016 Dodgeball event was a rousing success, owing to the extraordinarily hard work of a host of dedicated volunteers and staffers.  As some of you know, I have a “high need for control,” so missing Dodgeball was a great reminder that I am anything but essential.  Things weren’t merely fine without me, they were fantastic!  I feel deeply fortunate to have such talented and dedicated folks to lead us.  Clearly there are too many people to thank all of them individually, but I would like to give a special “shout out” to Tony Datolli and St. Mary’s High School, staffers Julie Rudden, Mike Whelan, Mickey Raftery, and Emma Vonderhaar, as well as to Board members Rosie Ford (and family), Joe Devereux, and Mike Nardini.  Thanks also all our major sponsors, Ascension Health, KBM Group (Wunderman), and IP Symphony, all our great teams, and to the St. Louis University Students for Life and all our other fantastic volunteers.  We could not have done it without you.

Thank you for the continued privilege of leading this incredible ministry.  It is gift.

God bless,

Michael