This Man…
Written by Jan Spence, at June End of Year Gala 2023
As Membership Chair, this man called every chapter member, non – renewed member and potential members.
He offered and often had coffee meet-ups with almost everyone in the local chapter.
This man connected with every CSP, CPAE and Cavett Recipient asking what their needs were for our chapter.
Even though running his own business and handling family and personal challenges, this man was always quick to respond by email/phone/text regardless of what was going on.
This man took on much more than the president’s role like editing meeting videos and the overwhelming task of sorting through our A/V equipment and wrapping, labeling and sorting each and every piece.
Not only that, but he and his lady Lisa drove from wherever they were on Friday nights to get the AV equipment for our hybrid meetings out of the chapter storage, set it up the night before and be ready for the monthly meeting early the next day. All without A/V compensation and without complaining.
This man did what needed to be done so that the show would go on.
On the first meeting here at St. Leo’s, this man drove from Ft. Lauderdale in the wee hours that morning of, to pack up all the equipment and bring it here, just in case something happened, we’d have a backup. And drove and replaced it after.
This man always thanks you for serving and praises you for a job well done at the start of all conversations.
If a board member or volunteer needed a break to take care of family, this man said “Family First.”
Even tough discussions, difficult decisions and challenges of running an association chapter and volunteer board, this man joined each event with a smile and likely some humor.
Even though dealing with an aging mother and the challenges that come along with that, he was fully present when you spoke to him, this man never letting on any chaos that might be occurring in his life.
After Hurricane Ian, having lost almost everything, displaced and living out of a car, this man called the entire membership to see if they were okay and what they might need, never even mentioning his own situation.
Despite going to physical therapy 5-7 days a week for hours after having been poisoned, he still made it to all chapter events, attended academy labs regularly, extra pop-up events and never let on that he may have been struggling.
This man gave himself fully and humbly to this NSA chapter in the Spirit of Cavett.
There is a fire that burns within this man and today we celebrate you, David Blake, President, NSACF Chapter 2022-2023
