View allAll Photos Tagged commitment
The vision of His Highness The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, is to mold the State of Qatar into a capital of culture. Under the umbrella of QMA, the Museum of Islamic Art is the flagship project of His Highness’s vision.
The Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar, is a museum for the world. It will bring the world to Doha, but it will also connect Doha to the world. The Museum of Islamic Art is dedicated to being the foremost museum of Islamic art in the world, and as well a centre of education and information in the field of the arts of the Islamic world. Through the vision of its leadership and the dedication of its staff, the Museum of Islamic Art will manifest this commitment by establishing, preserving, and documenting a collection that reflects the vitality, the complexity, and the diversity of the arts of the Islamic world. www.mia.org.qa/english/index.html#home
Karate For Kids
Karate for kids classes in Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona are taught in a method to develop life skills such as respects, enhanced self-discipline, greater confidence and respect in children. The karate for kids programs with the local ATA martial arts schools doesn’t only teach how to kick and punch. The karate classes will teach kids the valuable life lessons of self-control and the ability to defend themselves. All of the Karate Kids classes teach the attributes necessary to be a confident individual within our community.
Our Local ATA Martial Art schools in Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona have carefully designed the karate programs for the youth within the community- age appropriate programs that are specifically aimed at the child’s development both physically and mentally. These karate lessons are taught through a top ranked and nationally recognized “Karate For Kids” program, that has a well established training curriculum designed school aged students.
bullying seminars, martial arts business coaching mesa karate, chandler karate, cave creek karate,
#1 with parents in the ATA Karate Schools in Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona is the renowned Karate for Kids character development “ATA Life Skills” program designed for personal Victory in Martial Arts with skills such as perseverance, integrity, courtesy, self-esteem and the respect for others while incorporating social life skills that develops naturally within the group.
It is always a good time to start a program at one our three locations as the #1 Karate For Kids schools in Las Vegas and Henderson. Together with kids their own age, every youngster can mature and grow with the self confidence that a karate kids program develops within them.
Martial Arts Classes For Women
In today’s world of fitness, women are looking for a structured and interesting workout in a manner to stay fit that breaks away from their traditional daily routine. Repeating the same exercise every day can be draining and break ones motivation and is rarely goal oriented. It isn’t the normal daily gym workout. ATA Martial Arts of Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona is a training facility that women are finding the variety of goal oriented conditioning that is exciting. While the physical nature of martial arts is rewarding and a personal martial arts victory, it also teaches the self defense and survival tactics that is needed in todays ever changing world.
There are many important mental and physical health benefits in our women’s martial art classes in Las Vegas and Henderson. While toning vital muscles and building coordination will enhance self-confidence, awareness and increase cardiovascular is health. Women who Attend ATA karate classes will improve balance, flexibility, increase exercise stamina levels while developing a greater sense of self-esteem, hence the term… “Victory” in Martial Arts.
Martial Arts have been known to provide much needed stress relief, promote self-control, concentration, and boost the ability to remain calm under stress. ATA Martial Arts routines are even helping women keep their memory sharp on a day-to-day basis!
Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona ATA Martial Arts facilities are the community martial arts experts that provide rigorous karate classes for women of all ages to develop their strength of body and mind.
It’s a fact! Women are breaking away from their traditional exercise routines such as gym workouts and finding balance, freedom and motivation at ATA Martial Arts. It’s time for you to experience the benefits of karate classes designed for women with the community Martial Art experts in Las Vegas and Henderson.
Adult Martial Arts Classes for Men
Martial Arts classes for men in Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona is more then just kicking and punching. ATA Karate Classes create a stronger self awareness, enhanced confidence, greater focus, and a true Victory in Martial Arts for men of all ages.
In an adult class a karate student will train will practical concepts in a safe, clean and enjoyable facility, while incorporating life skills to de-stress from life’s everyday challenges. Las Vegas ATA Martial Arts and Henderson ATA Martial arts offers three location to serve our community. Learning a skill set that will stick with you for life, no matter what age, allowing you to gain the self confidence desired so that you can feel comfortable with confrontation in any real life situation.
As one of the top martial arts training facilities in the community our Martial Arts programs such as Karate for Kids, Taekwondo and MMA and Fitness is a key method of enhancing the body’s functions, including flexibility, coordination, and balance with strength and endurance. Yes! It relieves stress while having some fun as well as meeting new people. As an adult, you do not need to have prior training before you get into a Martial Arts class. ATA Martial Arts has a defined teaching curriculum designed to take each student to the peak of their performance while greatly enhancing their skills creating a personal “Martial Arts Victory”.
KRAV MAGA & MMA FITNESS
Krav Maga and ATA’s MMA and athletic training is combined to provide a diverse full body workout while incorporating real life scenario drills for self defense.
This class features a structured curriculum that is in continuous motion utilizing all levels of MMA and Krav Maga skills with self defense drills in a manner to enhance cardio-respiratory for your cardiovascular system. Krav Maga students don’t’ just perform blocks, punches, kicks and movements you would find at a gym to music or in the mirror, students train in an environment that is preparing them for real life conditions.
The Krav Maga & MMA Fitness in Cave Creek, Chandler, Mesa, Glendale, Arizona is a true Conditioning Program that specializes in a Total Body Workout that doesn’t feel like to boring fitness class you may have taken before. Krav Maga Conditioning Program brings a fresh experience and keeps each and every student motivated in class on a day to day basis.
With a strong dedication and commitment to the Krav Maga and MMA Fitness Training student, Krav Instructors teach a combination of strength training, combatives, flexibility skills, and workouts with our top notch academy training facility. There is a emphasize on muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance for Krav students in Henderson and Las Vegas while instilling the distinctive awareness and self defense techniques needed for street survival in our ever changing world.
Correct body alignment to maximize efficiency can be key, our team of professional instructors will work on refining Krav Maga technique through exciting repetition drills and training.
All levels of Krav Maga, MMA & Fitness from the beginner to the experienced can train at anyone of our three locations. Call today and don’t delay.
Promotes healthy heart and circulation
Shahnawaz Group is a leading industrial group of Pakistan with turnover in billions of rupees. This success has been achieved through honesty, professionalism, commitment and hard work spanning a period of 63 years. For example, Shezan International Ltd last year paid 110% cash dividend and its share was quoted as high as Rs. 290 for a Rs. 10 par value share on the Karachi Stock Exchange; Shahtaj Textile Mills Ltd is the record setter in Karachi Stock Exchange whose share at the time of IPO was oversubscribed by 2200%!
The name SHAHNAWAZ stands for a successful group of companies in Pakistan both in public and private sector. The network of Shahnawaz Group covers the whole country with full-fledged offices in all the main cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hattar, Peshawar and Quetta with manufacturing facilities in all major cities.
Over 10,000 employees are working in a professionally managed environment and contribute to the progress of Shahnawaz Group and further enhance the technical advancement of Pakistan.
We operate in the fields of Pharmaceuticals, Fruit Processing, Beverages, Textiles, Sugar, Automobiles, Computers, Software, Real Estate Development, Satellite Communication, Restaurants, Business Process Outsourcing, Agriculture and Engineering.
Some of Shahnawaz Group companies:
Shahnawaz (Pvt) Ltd.
Shezan International Ltd.
Shahtaj Sugar Mills Ltd.
Shahtaj Textile Mills Ltd.
Shahnawaz Textiles Ltd.
Nawazabad Farms.
Shezan Services (Pvt) Ltd.
Information Systems Associates Ltd.
Shezan (Pvt) Ltd.
Shahtaj Services (Pvt) Ltd.
Shahnawaz Engineering (Pvt) Ltd.
First Global Sourcing.
Trigen Pharma International (Pvt) Ltd.
Brief Introduction of Shahnawaz Group of Companies
Shahnawaz (Pvt) Ltd: SPL represents, exclusively; a large number of the worlds reputed manufacturers. It is one of the first trading houses in Pakistan. SPL is proud to be the exclusive/sole distributor for DaimlerChrysler AG/Mercedes-Benz in Pakistan for the past 45 years and is authorized to deal in the entire range of Mercedes-Benz products. We have dealerships/workshops/showrooms all over Pakistan to cover the entire country.
We have an extensive network of offices throughout Pakistan having their own workshops, spare parts departments and other allied service & support facilities for the complete range.
SPL also undertakes installation of Industrial projects and is well known in a wide spectrum of diverse activities ranging from implementing turnkey computer based solutions to air-conditioning multistoried buildings.
Website: www.shahnawazltd.com
Shezan International Ltd: SIL was incorporated in 1964 with the main objective to set up an industrial undertaking for manufacturing of juices, squashes, sherbets, jams, pickles and preserves from fruits and vegetables. SIL was conceived as a joint venture by the Shahnawaz Group of Pakistan and Alliance Industrial Development Corporation of U.S.A. in 1964.
The agricultural background of Shahnawaz Group induced them to establish this agro-based industry. Taking advantage of the abundance of fruits available in Pakistan and the advanced technology provided by the American partners, Shezan became a pioneer in the field of converting fruits into pulps, concentrates and juices. It is the first company in Pakistan to specialize in this process.
Today Shezan is the largest fruit processing unit having developed and installed the capacity to meet the country's local as well as export needs. Over the decades, the company has shown sustained growth in both domestic and export fields. SIL has been steadily expanding its production capacity over the years with factories in Karachi, Lahore, Hattar and a 4th factory is expected to start production in 2007.
All SIL factories produce the entire range of Shezan products. Today Shezan is one of the most recognized brand names in Pakistan synonymous with quality products and available in more than 90% of the households. Shezan’s product range is over 80 products and growing.
Today, Shezan having most suitable location for export, with outstanding quality, flavors and packaging is exporting its products to Afghanistan, Central Asian States, UK, USA, Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan.
Website: www.shezan.com
Shahtaj Sugar Mills Ltd: SSML is a Public Limited Company, which is spread over an area of 1.5 Million square yards at a prime industrial zone of Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat (Pakistan) and its Head Office is at Karachi. It is the second largest sugar mill in Pakistan according to crushing capacity. Its daily crushing capacity is over 10,000 tons.
Shahtaj Sugar Mills is one of the flagship companies of Shahnawaz Group. It has consistently won major awards as one of the best performing companies in Pakistan and has paid attractive dividends to investors and shareholders.
Shahtaj Textile Mills Ltd: STML is a hi-tech weaving unit and is equipped with 150 Air-jet looms and located in the Chunian Industrial Estate near Lahore and is spread over 100,000 square yards area of land.
STML was established by Shahnawaz Group in 1991 for the purpose of manufacturing and producing greige fabric. The mill is situated in the textile hub near Lahore and employs around 500 people.
The company has installed air-jet looms ranging from 190cm to 340cm. It has the most advanced high speed 4 color Picanol and 2 color Toyoda air jet looms of Belgium and Japanese origin to ensure versatility and production volume. The mill has established itself as a supplier to major Pakistani processors and exporters as well as marketing its own product to major US and European Textile manufacturers. It exports to UK, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Mauritius among others.
Website: www.shahtaj.com
Shahnawaz Textiles Ltd: This spinning unit of Shahnawaz Group produces high quality yarn with higher counts and has 22,560 spindles. It is spread over 85,000 square yards area and is located on Manga-Raiwind Road, near Lahore. It has over 600 employees working to make it a quality oriented spinning mill.
STL is a premium quality ring-spinning unit consisting of 22,560 spindles, producing 7800 tons of yarn per annum. The company commenced production in 1993 with the vision to be at the forefront of providing value to customers. The company produces 100% cotton combed and carded yarn. Our valued customers are from the air jet weaving, knitting and denim sectors. We also produce yarn for the sewing thread industry. Our quality speaks for itself.
The company is equipped with the most modern Japanese, European and Chinese equipment and the mill is being continuously upgraded with the latest machinery so that our customers get the highest quality standards.
This emphasis on quality is reflected in raw material selection. We aspire to use the highest quality of Pakistani, as well as imported cotton. Special effort is made to procure the highest grade of cotton from the best stations in Pakistan. Great effort is put to make our yarn contamination free. We also use imported cotton as well as specialized manufactured fibers like Lyocell to make high value added yarns for the apparel and home textile sectors.
Nawazabad Farms: Nawazabad Farms, the agriculture division of Shahnawaz Group is located around 150 miles from the port city of Karachi in Sind Province Pakistan. This is a fully developed fruit plantation and agricultural farm; spread over 12 Million square yards in Tando Allah Yaar, near Hyderabad. It is one of the largest Mango producers in Pakistan and is well renowned as having the best mango orchards in the entire country.
The farm is one of the most advanced and largest fruit farms in the country. The principal fruits grown at the farm are Mangoes, Lychees, Dates, Grapefruit, Pears, Oranges, Guavas, Chikoo, Banana, Avocado, Berries and Papaya. At the farms we grow more than 62 varieties of mangoes including Sindhri, Chaunsa, Sonera, Fajri and Neelum. The fruit orchards division of Nawazabad Farms alone has over 100,000 fruit trees where no chemical fertilizers and no chemical insecticides are used. Nawazabad Farms grows a variety of vegetables including carrots, cabbage, okra, green chilies and spices including red chilies and turmeric.
The water distribution system at our farms consists of over 100 km long water courses including 17 km long concrete main water course, which minimizes the water loss.
The farm has recently converted all its land into Organic under the supervision of the Soil Association UK. No pesticides, fungicides, insecticides have been used in the area and all the strict standards of the Soil Association have been adhered to. To avoid the use of harmful pesticide and insecticides EM Technology is used.
This highly successful farm has consistently won first prize in Horticultural Exhibitions. Most of our fruit produce is of export quality and is being exported to the Middle East and Europe.
Shezan Services (Pvt) Ltd.: Shezan Services owns the brand name "SHEZAN", which is one of the most recognized consumer brands in the country. This company also owns property in prime locations in Karachi, Lahore and other cities of Pakistan. We are in the process of building one of the highest buildings in Lahore to house the Shahnawaz Group companies and will be called "Shahnawaz Towers" .
Another prime real estate is being developed in Karachi to house the Mercedes-Benz showroom, a restaurant and another office for our group companies due to the expansion in the group’s portfolio.
Information Systems Associates Ltd: Comstar ISA Ltd. is primarily a Wide Area Network Provider. Licensed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to establish and operate data networks throughout Pakistan.
Operating under the legal name of "Information Systems Associates" Comstar has been in business since 1996 – this year we celebrated our first decade of operations.
With Head Quarters in Karachi and regional offices in Lahore, Islamabad and Multan Comstar covers the entire length and breadth of the country ensuring error free services to its customers.
Comstar has been the service provider of choice for mission critical networks including Banks and Oil & Gas Companies, our customer list boasts many well known International and Local Organizations many of which have been with us for several years.
Our main focus has been on Wireless Communications – Satellite and Terrestrial Broadband.
This year we achieved yet another milestone by signing an agreement with Infosat Communications to jointly offer Infosat Satellite Services in Pakistan. Infosat is the largest VSAT Operator in Canada and is the largest I-Direct Service Provider in the World. Infosat has made a substantial equity investment in Comstar which is the first of its kind in Pakistan by a major Satellite Service Provider.
Website: www.comstar.com.pk
Shezan (Pvt) Ltd.: SPL as part of Shahnawaz Group operates popular restaurants all over the country. Shezan restaurants are the pioneers in Pakistan in setting up a network of restaurants all over the country and in England (London) and the US (New York and Washington D.C.). These restaurants have exclusively developed recipes that have been fine tuned over a period of decades to cater to the domestic as well as the international clientele covering Oriental, Pakistani, Chinese, Italian and Continental.
For over three decades Shezan has served the finest quality cuisine, being the only Indian or Pakistani restaurant in Great Britain to receive a "Star" rating by the Egon Ronay Good Food Guide also winning the Gold Plate Award and the Restaurant of The Year Award. The focus is mainly on the "Punjabi" style although Shezan boasts varied and delightful offerings from all regions suiting all tastes with the finest quality foods and ingredients. Served in one of the most pleasant and friendly atmospheres available in London just opposite the prestigious Harrods departmental store.
Shahtaj Services (Pvt) Ltd: Shahtaj Services is involved in exporting fruits to the Middle East and South East Asia including Malaysia, Dubai and Japan. It has also installed several satellite tracking systems at railway stations all over Pakistan to update passengers of arriving and departing trains. This is a pioneering project that is done in collaboration with Comstar, which is another Shahnawaz Group company. This company is further involved with indigenously developing advertising billboards to post at railway stations across Pakistan.
Shahnawaz Engineering (Pvt) Ltd.: Its client base includes some of the most illustrious organizations of the country. Shahnawaz Engineering has been instrumental in working on large scale projects of National and International importance.
SEPL is engaged in providing Engineering Services, including Air Conditioning design, Supply, Execution, Operation and Maintenance of large projects. It has a team of highly qualified and experienced professional engineers who are dedicatedly performing their services at various projects throughout Pakistan. Our Project Managers are acquainted with the latest professional techniques and tools, and are foreign trained in respective fields.
We are working for the last ten years at FINANCE & TRADE CENTER Karachi, under close monitoring of FTC Management Company. Shahnawaz Engineering is committed to providing a service of quality acceptable under international standards and as required for ISO 9001:2000 Certification.
First Global Sourcing: FGS is a sourcing organization backed by manufacturing alliances. FGS provides buyers with a cost effective sourcing base from major textile hubs. The FGS customer service and sales offices in markets such as North America, Europe, and the Middle East provide our customers with local language support backed by a sourcing team.
Our offices are staffed with experienced textile experts who understand the changing market requirements. Our goal is to provide buyers with a platform through which they source at the best quality/price ratio.
At FGS the Quality Assurance (QA) team provides quality control services to further strengthen our buying partners trust in our abilities.
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March in the 1400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Monsignor Sal Criscuolo, Chaplain, MPDC
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
U.S. Embassy Staff march in support of ending violence
Making a stand and joining efforts in celebrating 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign 2011 in Samoa, the Chargé d’Affaires Chad Berbert and staff of U.S. Embassy Apia joined more than 300 members of government ministries, diplomatic corps, international organizations and civil society groups in a march parade on November 25. The parade on Beach Road Apia transcended from the Police Headquarter to the Government Building at Matagialalua, where the marchers were met by the Prime Minister of Samoa, Hon. Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi.
Let’s End the Cycle of Violence
Chad J. Berbert
Chargé d’Affaires
U.S. Embassy Apia, Samoa
Violence against women and girls touches Samoa just as it does other nations. Gender-based violence is a global pandemic that cuts across all borders - ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, and religion. It can threaten women and girls at any point in their life- from female feticide and inadequate access to education and nutrition to child marriage, incest, and so-called "honor" killings. It can take the form of dowry -related murder or domestic violence, rape (including spousal rape), sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking in persons, or the neglect and ostracism of widows. One in three women around the world will experience some form of gender-based violence in her lifetime. In some countries that number is as high as 70 percent.
This year, we once again mark "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence." It is clear that the international community must offer up more than words to answer the call to free women and girls from violence. Whether it happens behind closed doors or as a public tactic of intimidation, whether down the street or on distant shores, violence against women and girls damages us all - men and women alike.
We must stand up to the impunity that too often leaves the egregious perpetrators unaccountable for their crimes. We must redress the low status of women and girls around the world that renders them undervalued and vulnerable. Further, we must support the inclusion of men and boys in addressing and preventing violence and changing gender attitudes. We must increase accountability and commitment by community and government leaders on this issue, and we must highlight and promote effective programs that are already successfully at work.
These 16 Days are a sobering reminder that gender-based violence cannot be treated as solely a women's issue - it is a profound challenge for the entire world. Gender-based violence is not just an affront to human rights and dignity – it adversely impacts the welfare of our communities. When women and girls are abused, businesses close, incomes shrink, families go hungry, and children grow up internalizing behavior that perpetuates the cycle of violence. There is no end to the economic and detrimental social and health costs that come along with this brutality.
This damage is passed on to the rest of the community as judicial, health and security services are strained. Violence effectively acts as a cancer on societies, causing enormous upheaval in the progress of social and economic development. Physical violence vastly increases women's risk for a range of serious conditions, including reproductive health problems, miscarriages, and sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV. There are also strong linkages to maternal mortality, as well as poor child health, and morbidity.
The Government of Samoa through the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development has initiated various awareness programs such as the Gender Based Violence Project and the Mothers and Daughters Project. In civil society there have been tremendous contributions from NGO groups such as Samoa Victims Support Group, Mapusaga o Aiga, Pan Pacific South East Asian Women Association (PPSEAWA) of Samoa, and Faataua le Ola to name a few. These groups have worked tirelessly to bring to light gender violence issues and to help educate the public, prevent abuse, and break the cycle of violence.
These 16 days offer an opportunity to renew the commitment to free women and girls from the nightmare of violence. Countries cannot progress when half their populations are marginalized and mistreated, and subjected to discrimination. When women and girls are accorded their rights and afforded equal opportunities in education, healthcare, employment, and political participation, they lift up their families, their communities, and their nations – and act as agents of change.
As Secretary Clinton recently noted, "Investing in the potential of the world's women and girls is one of the surest ways to achieve global economic progress, political stability, and greater prosperity for women – and men - the world over."
Let’s make the investment. Let’s end the cycle of violence, not just for these 16 days but for our future.
In recognition of their outstanding service to Delaware, Governor John Carney honored 13 young people and five groups with the Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards during a ceremony May 24 at the Polytech Adult Education Conference Center in Woodside.
“Across the state, I am impressed by the level of commitment our young people have to serving others,” Governor Carney said. “I am proud to honor their energy, spirit and willingness as they help us to build stronger and healthier communities. Without question, they demonstrate that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.”
More than 200 people, including Renee Beaman, director of DHSS' Division of State Service Centers, which oversees the awards, and Georgeanna Windley, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service, joined the Governor in honoring the young volunteers for their outstanding service, community impact and inspiration to others.
The Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards are sponsored by the Office of the Governor and are coordinated by the State Office of Volunteerism and the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service.
2017 GOVERNOR’S YOUTH VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD WINNERS
INDIVIDUALS
Wei-Ling Moloy
Arts & Culture
Nominator: Angela Williamson
Wei-Ling Moloy is an active volunteer at Hagley Museum & Library, serving as a youth leader in its Youth Leadership Program (YLP) and as a camp counselor. As a youth leader, Wei-Ling facilitates and designs programs and activities related to Hagley’s stories of technology, science, and innovation. As a camp counselor, she supported the adult camp instructors by interacting with campers, assisting with activities, and maintaining the enjoyment and safety of campers. Beginning in 2014, as a shy, quiet volunteer, Wei-Ling has grown into a strong leader who is respected both by her fellow youth leaders and the adult mentors in the Hagley Museum & Library volunteer program.
Suprit Bodla
Community Service
Nominator: Jim Power
Since 2013, Suprit Bodla has volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America, Christiana Care Health System and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). He has organized a variety of fundraisers to benefit LLS and also to raise public awareness of the fight against blood cancer. Suprit is also a student mentor for the Science Ambassadors Program at the Charter School of Wilmington, where he, along with his peers, helped to organize a STEM tutoring program at Marbrook Elementary School and work with the Delaware Children’s Museum to provide science and match activities for Engineering Week.
Nadeem D. Boggerty
Community Service
Nominators: Adrienne Gomez
Dover High School honor student Nadeem D. Boggerty has been volunteering in his community for the past six years with his church, his school and through social organizations. One of the many organizations at which Nadeem volunteers is the Calvary Church in Dover, where he and his family help pack boxes and assist with dinner on Thanksgiving each year. Nadeem also participates in several social service organizations (the Omega Gents, a program steered by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.; EMBODI, hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and BeB.O.L.D., a nonprofit youth mentoring organization in Dover) where he has helped feed the homeless, staff information tables at Back-to-School Fairs, toy drives, First State Community Day, and other activities that support the local community.
Sarah Davis
Education
Nominator: Michelle Neef
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Davis been volunteering with Faithful Friends Animal Society for four years. Sarah passionately promotes, educates and supports her community and has become a true leader and advocate for her generation. Furthermore, she displays great compassion while taking the initiative to ensure the safety of animals. Her tenacity has saved the lives of many dogs and cats, and improved the lives of neighbors who care for them. Sarah has provided long-term foster care to neonate kittens and delivered food from Faithful Friends Animal Society Pet Food Bank to pet owners with low incomes or those struggling in other ways to assist them in keeping their family pets in their home. She also rescued dogs and cats from perilous environments and has been instrumental for the Trap-Neuter-Return program, which works to reduce and improve the community cat population.
Cheyenne McGowan
Environment
Nominator: Emily Krueger
Cheyenne McGowan started with the Brandywine Zoo as a summer teen intern with its Zoo Camps during the summer of 2016. After the summer, she continued her volunteer efforts by signing up to help with various educational events at the zoo, including International Red Panda Day, Vulture Weekend, and Noon Year’s Eve. Her role for these events was educating the public at learning stations using animal artifacts, activities, or crafts. In addition, Cheyenne frequently came in to interpret the zoo’s animal exhibits to the public as a docent. Since she started volunteering a year ago, Cheyenne has helped educate hundreds of people at the zoo, which serves the greater Wilmington area, on different environmental topics, including climate change, animal adaptations, and specific animal facts.
Michael Robinette
Health & Special Needs
Nominator: Margaret Jenkins
Since 2013, Michael Robinette has volunteered with the Mary Campbell Center’s Children & Youth program. Mike works with more than 100 children each summer, in a variety of age groups with unique physical or intellectual disabilities. His responsibilities include assisting children in different activities throughout the day such as arts and crafts, games, swimming and cooking. Mike also supports staff with talent show planning and production. Additionally, he provides supervision and companionship for campers on field trips during the summer camp program. Mike gets to know the campers on a one-on-one level and is quick to learn their likes and dislikes, and when they need or want help.
Santiago Vizcaino
Health & Special Needs
Nominator: Richard Huber
Santiago Vizcaino began volunteering with the Delaware Division for the Visually Impaired in the summer of 2016. During his time with the agency, Santiago has provided assistance in producing resource material for students with visual impairments, assisting staff with departmental projects and developing training procedures for the organization. Beginning at the Instruction Resource Material Center, Santiago produced large-print reading material for students, which were provided to 247 students. He developed a process that allowed books to be converted to PDF format, which allows a student with a visual impairment to use an iPad or other electronic device to review the document via voice narration or zoom text option, depending on the individual student’s needs. In addition, Santiago helped to develop training procedures for other volunteers.
Joy Baker
Human Needs
Nominator: Joyce Sessoms
In 2016 alone, Joy Baker volunteered an estimated 200+ hours in a variety of capacities in the Delmar and Laurel communities. She serves on the Youth Board of Directors of The ARK Education Resource Center, volunteers at her church as an assistant to the program coordinator responsible for youth activities, and is a member of the National Honor Society. For ARK, Joy acts as a recruiter and fundraiser, and is also an active participant in ARK-sponsored events like the Back-to-School Extravaganza held in Janosik Park.
Katelyn Craft
Human Needs
Nominator: Emily Holcombe
In July 2016, Katelyn Craft began volunteering at Exceptional Care for Children (ECC), Delaware’s first and only nonprofit pediatric skilled nursing facility for children who are medically fragile. Through the Resident Playdate volunteer program, ECC is able to provide the residents the chance to interact with individuals who can offer something other than medical care. At age 14, Katy knew she wanted to bring smiles and joy to children who have extensive medical needs. She has spent more than 100 hours reading, playing games, watching movies, assisting with arts and crafts projects, or just spending quality time with children who have little family involvement. In addition, Katy volunteered her time assisting with special events and fundraisers, like the Gala Fundraiser and Visits with Santa.
Daevean DeShields
Human Needs
Nominator: Aaron Tyson
Following the inspiration of his grandfather, Daevean DeShields created Project HOOP, which stands for Helping Out Other People. The goal of Project HOOP was to fill 1,000 bags with supplies to be distributed to people who are homeless through Faith United Methodist Church’s Open Hands Sound & Clothing Ministry. After recruiting from his local and school community (including his school principal), Daevean was able to meet and surpass his goal with a remarkable 1,015 bags assembled.
Jakob Ryan Thomas
Public Safety
Nominator: Shirin Skovronski
For almost two years, Jakob Ryan Thomas has volunteered as a junior firefighter with the Mill Creek Fire Company. In 2016 alone, he responded to 488 calls of emergency responses to structure fires, motor vehicle crashes, medical assistance, and other miscellaneous calls, amassing more than 500 volunteer hours. Jakob’s actions assisted the community in multiple emergencies, which were often quite serious and dangerous in nature.
Richard Thomas
Public Safety
Nominator: Robert Bassett, Jr.
Richard Thomas has been a volunteer firefighter with Camden-Wyoming Fire Company for two years, assisting in more than 300 emergency situations such as car accidents and house fires. Richard also assists with teaching fire prevention to children. Despite his youth, Richard is well-respected at the fire company and is seen as a mentor for new firefighters.
Ananya Singh
Social Justice/Advocacy
Nominator: Meghan Pasricha
For the past nine years, Ananya Singh has been a member of the Global Youth H.E.L.P. Inc. (GYH), a Delaware nonprofit whose mission is to train and support young people to become leaders by serving their communities through community service projects. Ananya served first as president of the middle school chapter and is currently chair of the high school chapter. Her time and efforts have been vital for many different community service projects, including the Annual Backpack Donation for the YWCA Home-Life Center, the Christmas Hygiene Product Donation, the Annual Ice Cream Party for the YWCA Home-Life Center and the Premier Charities Feeding the Homeless. She also has taught English and karate to younger children.
GROUPS
Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club
Arts & Culture
Nominator: Kenny Monroe
Following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew (Sept. 28-Oct. 10, 2016) in the Caribbean, the Teen TITAN program members of the Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club developed the “Hope for Haiti Donation Drive.” In a relatively short time, the Team Titan program members spent 400 hours collecting clothing, toiletries, bottled water, educational material and other items. More than 300 items filled more than 10 boxes and were sent to the people in Haiti to be used as they began to rebuild and recover from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.
Cape Henlopen High School Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program
Community Service
Nominator: Angela Thompson
For 10 continuous years, the participants of the Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program (JROTC) at Cape Henlopen High School have learned that everyone belongs to a community and therefore has a responsibility to that community. The 45 young men and women who comprise the current JROTC roster continue that legacy of service by devoting an average of 2,000 man-hours to community service activities benefiting a number of organizations, including the Delaware Seashore State Park, Beebe Medical Center, American Red Cross Blood Drive, the Salvation Army, Brandywine Senior Citizens Center and the National Kidney Foundation.
A.I. du Pont Middle School – Walk in the Kings Footsteps
Education
Nominator: Michele Fidance
When posed with the question “What will I do to walk in the footsteps of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?” the student body of A.I. du Pont Middle School in Wilmington decided to answer the question literally. A small group of students, led by Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) instructors, were given the project of researching the speeches of Dr. King in order to choose quotes that meant something to them. The students then inscribed their selected quote on a cut-out of a footprint, which was then affixed to the wall in the cafeteria as a means to inspire their fellow students. Once students beyond the JDG classes saw the footprints, they wanted to participate as well. The project helped to raise awareness among students of Dr. King’s life, teaching and legacy, and how it translates into community action and service.
P.S. duPont Middle School Student Council – Adopt a Family
Health and Special Needs
Nominator: Mallory Stratton
Each year, the student council of P.S. duPont Middle School in Wilmington spearheads its annual Adopt-A-Family Drive. The drive involves the school community at-large adopting the families of 15 to 20 P.S. duPont students who are need assistance to make the holiday season a little brighter. The donations of clothing, books and toys generated by the student council benefited upwards of 50 fellow students and their siblings in 2016.
Delmar High School - Wildcat Wellness Pantry
Human Needs
Nominator: Michele Fidance
The Wildcat Wellness Pantry is a food pantry at the Delmar American Legion, which provides nonperishable food and household items for individuals in need. The pantry is staffed by as many as eight Jobs for Delaware Graduate (JDG) volunteers. The JDG volunteers come in on Saturdays to assist families in need and taking inventory to ensure the pantry can reach even more people. An additional group of more than 60 volunteers collect the proceeds from canned food drives that occur during the school year to continually stock the pantry.
Because of recent news relating to the development [re-development] of Cherrywood in the South of County Dublin I decided to see if I had any relevant photograph but the earliest usable photographs were taken in July 2013. I do know that I did photograph the area in 2010 and possibly in 2009 but I cannot locate the original photographs.
This photograph was taken in 2013 but nothing really changed between 2010 and 2013,
Back in 2010 I made the following comment online:
“The New Luas Extension Has Been Criticised By Commuters Who Cannot Park.”
“When it comes to transport in Dublin there have been two success stories in recent years. The DublinBike scheme is one and the other is the Luas tram system. Last Monday was a beautiful sunny day and after photographing the Dublin Marathon I decided that it would be a good idea to get the Luas to Cherrywood to see if I could take a few photographs. It was explained to me, by a gentleman that I met on the tram, that the land is now tied up in NAMA and as a result it cannot be developed as a park and ride facility. Commuters were turned away from the new Cherrywood terminus on opening day as there were no parking facilities available.”
“Cherrywood is one of Dublin's newest suburbs and as can be seen from my photographs it is partly developed and there are some very large empty spaces and believe it or not there is a shortage of parking spaces. Some time ago a decision was made to extend the Sandyford (Green) Luas line to Cherrywood and construction started in February 2007 and the line became operational this month (October 2010) There are now two Luas stops in Cherrywood: Cherrywood and the terminus, Brides Glen.”
I would suggest that the tram stop at Laughanstown could be described as being in the area.
FRIDAY 10 FEB 2016:
Hines Ireland has officially started work on the first key phase of construction at Cherrywood in South County Dublin. If all goes well up to 30,000 people will live at Cherrywood by early in the next decade meaning that it will be as large as Bray and even larger than a town such as Athlone.
Brian Moran said, “The upfront delivery of the roads, cycle and pedestrian network and three wonderful parks is a pivotal moment for the Cherrywood project. These will be the green lungs for this modern new town and this not only strikes the right environmental note for Cherrywood to come but it also underpins our commitment to expedite the delivery of the 4,000 modern new homes within the Hines land holding."
"We are acutely aware of the enormous public demand for new housing stock and the submission of planning for the new €875 million Cherrywood Town Centre in the coming months will include 1300 new smart design apartments as part of this highly ambitious plan.”
In 2014, Hines acquired Cherrywood in South Dublin. The two components of this investment include an existing 52,000-square-meter office park and a 390-acre master-planned development site. The Cherrywood site has been acquired with approval for the construction of a new, retail-led mixed-use town center; up to 3,800 apartments and houses; and zoning capacity to expand the second largest office park in Dublin to three times its current size.
Mr. Moran is the Senior Managing Director responsible for developing Hines’ Ireland projects. He established the Hines platform in Ireland which currently has more than €1.2 billion of retail, office and residential assets under management, in addition to a major development pipeline which includes an additional €500 million of retail development and over 4,000 residential units. He rejoined the firm in 2011 having previously worked with Hines in Russia in the 1990's.
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial North Elm Walkway, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
Today's topic for Our Daily Challenge is 'Commit.' A task I dont like everyday is taking so many vitamins and supplements, but I made a commitment to better health and eating and there are a few physical problems I am 'working on.' Anybody who shares this personal task will probably relate to most of the words the alphabet blocks reveal.
Celebration for DOMA's removal at Orlando's Marriage Equality Rally, including a same sex comittment ceremony.
By Orlando Photographer Jenna Michele. www.jennamichelephotography.com
May 2014, Helsinki, Finland.
Somewhere there is also one for me and my wife.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5
Lens: Olympus M.17mm f1.8
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 s
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO/Film: 400
GULF OF THAILAND (Feb. 10, 2018) An amphibious assault vehicle (AAV), assigned to the 3d Marine Division (MARDIV), enters the well deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) in preparation for debarkation in support of Cobra Gold 2018 (CG18). Cobra Gold, a Thai-U.S. co-sponsored exercise in its 37th iteration, is designed to advance regional security and ensure effective responses to regional crises by bringing together a robust multinational force to address shared goals and security commitments in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Bonhomme Richard is operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region as part of a regularly scheduled patrol and provides a rapid-response capability in the event of a regional contingency or natural disaster. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kyle Carlstrom/Released)
Sourcing high quality cocoa in the village of Bonikro in Côte d’Ivoire
______
Nestlé is happy for you to use this image to illustrate a news story, blog or article. Please credit the photo: © Nana Kofi Acquah /Nestlé
Mingle Media TV and our Red Carpet Report team with Diana Espir were on the red carpet to interview talent from a number of Netflix shows from The Crown to Stranger Things at a 24,000 square foot exhibition in Beverly Hills where they were showcasing their Emmys For You Consideration (FYC) shows with their FYSee Space kick-off party and month long event.
Get the Story from the Red Carpet Report Team, follow us on Twitter and Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/RedCarpetReportTV
www.youtube.com/MingleMediaTVNetwork
About Netflix FYSee
Netflix has created a showcase for their FYC shows for this year’s Emmy Consideration in Beverly Hills with a number of installations that had activations from selfies to interactivity with some props from shows like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Luke Cage, Stranger Things and more! The kick-off event is had DJ Grandmaster Flash and Adrian & Ali entertaining the guests while the red carpet was busy with talent from the shows including Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, Shannon Purser, Natalie Dyer (Stranger Things); Katherine Langford, Dylan Minnette, Christian Navarro, Alisha Boe, Brandon Flynn, Justin Prentice, Miles Heizer, Ross Butler, Devin Druid, Michele Selene Ang, Tommy Dorfman, Brandon Larracuente, Tom Everett Scott (13 Reasons Why); Norman Lear, Gloria Calderon Kellett, Justina Machado, Isabella Gomez (One Day At A Time); Uzo Adubo, Blair Brown, Danielle Brooks, Taryn Manning, Samira Wiley, Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black);
Alan Yang, Lena Waithe and Kelvin Yu (Master of None); June Diane Raphael and Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie); Chelsea Handler (Chelsea); Mike Colter and Cheo Coker(Marvel’s Luke Cage); Eric Newman (Narcos); Gillian Jacobs, Paul Rust and Claudia O’Doherty (Love); Jason Isaacs, Brendan Merer and Brandon Perea (The OA); Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, Marque Richardson, Antoinette Robertson, Ashley Blaine Featherson, DeRon Horton and John Patrick Amedori (Dear White People) and more.
About Netflix
Netflix is the world’s leading Internet television network with over 100 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
Connect with Netflix Online:
Visit Netflix WEBSITE: nflx.it/29BcWb5
Like Netflix on FACEBOOK: bit.ly/29kkAtN
Follow Netflix on TWITTER: bit.ly/29gswqd
Follow Netflix on INSTAGRAM: bit.ly/29oO4UP
Follow Netflix on TUMBLR: bit.ly/29kkemT
For more of Mingle Media TV’s Red Carpet Report coverage, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook here:
www.facebook.com/minglemediatvnetwork
www.flickr.com/MingleMediaTVNetwork
Follow our host, Diana on Twitter at twitter.com/DianaEspir
The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain
13900 North Dove Mountain Boulevard
Marana, Arizona
**In the Beginning**
In 1926, Missourian Eugene Cayton arrived in Tucson to improve his health. He acquired what was then known as Ruelas Canyon in the Tortolita Mountains and established the T Bench Bar Ranch. "Cush" Cayton built for his wife, Inez, a stone house atop one of the smaller peaks. The stone house is still there on top of the hill overlooking Dove Mountain Boulevard near the eighth and ninth holes of the Gallery Golf Club. The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain was developed by John MacMillan, majority owner of Palo Verde Partners and opened in 2003.
The Cayton’s ranched the land until 1984. In 1985 David Mehl’s Cottonwood Properties Inc. Acquired the 1,300 acres of desert land and thus began Mehl's vision of Dove Mountain as an upscale golf community. David Mehl and his late brother George founded Tucson-based Cottonwood Properties in 1972. Its purpose was to invest in and develop quality real estate in the Tucson, Arizona area. David Mehl graduated from the University of Arizona in 1972.
In the early 1980’s Cottonwood Properties was the master developer of the 790 acre Westin La Paloma resort community in the foothills of Tucson. The development consisted of the 487 room Westin La Paloma Resort & Hotel and the 27 hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf course. Cottonwood owned the hotel until 1988 when it sold the hotel to the Aoki Corp., the Japan-based construction company that owned Westin. Aoki spent $200 million to acquire 3 hotels - the Inter-Continental at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, the Inter-Continental at Buckhead in Atlanta, and an equity interest in the Westin La Paloma.
**Pygmy Owl**
In March 1997 the Pygmy Owl was added to the list of endangered species under federal law. In 1999 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service dealt a set-back to the development. Environmental protections for the ferruginous pygmy owl forced Cottonwood to scale back plans at Dove Mountain. The numbers of homes were scaled back from 13,000 to 6,500 and the numbers of proposed resorts were reduced to one from 3 or 4. Cottonwood also contributed several million dollars to a conservation fund managed by the federal agency.
In 1999 the Tucson Citizen quoted David Mehl ”By making density reductions, we are developing at a density compatible with the pygmy owl.. In areas where it’s not, then we’re offering to pay to make up for it.”
**The Development**
Cottonwood committed some twenty years of planning into making Dove Mountain a premiere golf resort community.
In the late 1990’s Cottonwood Properties partnered with Scottsdale-based Greenbrier Southwest Corp. and began planning a 500-room Hyatt resort hotel for Dove Mountain. The hotel was designed and the developers received a verbal commitment for the financing on Sept. 10, 2001. The next day, September 11, 2001, the world changed and the idea for the Hyatt Resort was shelved.
The principals of Greenbrier Southwest Corporation, Tim and Casey Bolinger, previously served with Woodbine Southwest Corporation in Phoenix from 1991-1998. They managed the planning, zoning, financing, development and marketing of the 730-acre Kierland master-planned community, including Kierland Commons and the Westin Kierland Resort.
Greenbrier Southwest developed a much smaller project – the Hidden Meadow Ranch in Greer, Arizona. Opened in 2002, the rustic ranch (transformed from a church youth camp) has 12 luxury cabins starting at $500 a night including meals.
In August 2007 a building permit was issued for a Ritz-Carlton resort and spa to be built in Dove Mountain in Marana. The building permit cost $309,643.10 and was applied for by Dove Mountain Hotel Co. LLC. Also, Tucson Water approved a water main extension, a 290,000-gallon reservoir and a booster station that would serve the proposed 250-room hotel.
The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain and The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain were announced as the largest branded resort/residential community managed by the Ritz Carlton hotel company. The $160 million hotel will be the second Ritz-Carlton in Arizona, joining the The Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix.
The Ritz Carlton press release announced that HKS Hill Glazier Architects of Palo Alto, California will design the hotel as a low-rise, four story building embracing the feel of the desert southwest. The main building of adobe block, straw-flecked stucco, clay tile and native stone will include 226 guest rooms and suites. Separate buildings nearby will feature 24 individual casita rooms and suites.
In addition a $60-million Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course with 27-holes was planned for a late 2008 opening. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain now hosts the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship beginning in February 2009 (The PGA Tour has committed to The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain through the 2013 event). When George and David Mehl hired Nicklaus in 1983 to design the Westin La Polama Golf Course, it was Nicklaus’s 26th golf course on his design resume. With Dove Mountain completed Nicklaus has designed over 200 golf courses around the world.
**Grand Opening**
The Ritz Carlton’s pre-opening General Manager – Michael McMahon - aims to have the resort become the first in the Tucson area to achieve AAA's highest rating of five diamonds. Previously McMahon was General Manager The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, Florida.
The hotel’s opening general manager was Allan Federer. In March 2011 Federer moved to the Ritz-Carlton Dubai as General Manager. Replacing Federer is Liam Doyle – who previously was general manager at the Sherbourne Dublin, Ireland and Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach.
The Ritz-Carlton Grand Opening Press Release reported that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was in attendance at the December 18, 2009 event. Speakers at the event included owner and developer David Mehl of Cottonwood Properties, senior vice president of operations for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., Hank Biddle, and The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain resort general manager, Allan Federer.
“This day is a landmark event not only for the town of Marana, but for the State of Arizona,” stated general manager Allan Federer. “Over twenty years ago, David and his brother George Mehl had a vision to build the finest resort in the country. All it took was the right partners and the perfect location. With the help of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. and co-developer Greenbrier Southwest Corporation, it became a reality. Now the world has the opportunity to visit a place like no other, The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain.”
Following the official ribbon-cutting seventy-two white doves were released symbolizing the property as the 72nd within The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. portfolio.
At full operation the hotel has 450 employees. It has 44,000 square feet of meeting space including a 9,000 square foot main ballroom.
The hotel’s opening Chef de Cuisine was Joel Harrington. Harrington previously was chef de cuisine of Fearing's at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. Harrington graduated from CIA in Hyde Park, NY and worked with Marcus Samuellson at Aquavit in NYC.
Replacing Harrington is Chef David Serus who previously served as Executive Sous-Chef of The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay and Executive Chef of The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. Serus’ role encompass all hotel culinary activities, including those at CORE Kitchen & Wine Bar, Cayton’s Restaurant, Ignite Lobby Lounge, Turquesa Latin Grill, To Go, In-Room Dining, banquets, and catering.
**Two Landmark 200 Year Old Saguaros**
When Wild Burro Canyon was selected for the perfect hotel site, where balcony views of the Tortolita Mountains would be maximized, it was discovered that two majestic Saguaros, each estimated to be close to 200 years old, would have been lost. This was unacceptable to ownership. After three more months of analysis, the final solution was to simply shift the whole facility 25 feet. Today, as hotel guests behold the box canyon views from Ignite or CORE Kitchen and Wine Bar, they enjoy these two landmark cacti, which rise majestically overhead and stand in testament to the preservation of the High Sonoran Desert. “These cacti are sacred and add to our sense of place,” said Allan Federer, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain. “Guests gaze in awe and wonder at the desert’s version of a redwood, adding to the memories they will have of this beautiful property.”
Photos and text compiled by Dick Johnson
richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com
212-832-0098
March, 2012
In recognition of their outstanding service to Delaware, Governor John Carney honored 13 young people and five groups with the Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards during a ceremony May 24 at the Polytech Adult Education Conference Center in Woodside.
“Across the state, I am impressed by the level of commitment our young people have to serving others,” Governor Carney said. “I am proud to honor their energy, spirit and willingness as they help us to build stronger and healthier communities. Without question, they demonstrate that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.”
More than 200 people, including Renee Beaman, director of DHSS' Division of State Service Centers, which oversees the awards, and Georgeanna Windley, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service, joined the Governor in honoring the young volunteers for their outstanding service, community impact and inspiration to others.
The Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards are sponsored by the Office of the Governor and are coordinated by the State Office of Volunteerism and the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service.
2017 GOVERNOR’S YOUTH VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD WINNERS
INDIVIDUALS
Wei-Ling Moloy
Arts & Culture
Nominator: Angela Williamson
Wei-Ling Moloy is an active volunteer at Hagley Museum & Library, serving as a youth leader in its Youth Leadership Program (YLP) and as a camp counselor. As a youth leader, Wei-Ling facilitates and designs programs and activities related to Hagley’s stories of technology, science, and innovation. As a camp counselor, she supported the adult camp instructors by interacting with campers, assisting with activities, and maintaining the enjoyment and safety of campers. Beginning in 2014, as a shy, quiet volunteer, Wei-Ling has grown into a strong leader who is respected both by her fellow youth leaders and the adult mentors in the Hagley Museum & Library volunteer program.
Suprit Bodla
Community Service
Nominator: Jim Power
Since 2013, Suprit Bodla has volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America, Christiana Care Health System and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). He has organized a variety of fundraisers to benefit LLS and also to raise public awareness of the fight against blood cancer. Suprit is also a student mentor for the Science Ambassadors Program at the Charter School of Wilmington, where he, along with his peers, helped to organize a STEM tutoring program at Marbrook Elementary School and work with the Delaware Children’s Museum to provide science and match activities for Engineering Week.
Nadeem D. Boggerty
Community Service
Nominators: Adrienne Gomez
Dover High School honor student Nadeem D. Boggerty has been volunteering in his community for the past six years with his church, his school and through social organizations. One of the many organizations at which Nadeem volunteers is the Calvary Church in Dover, where he and his family help pack boxes and assist with dinner on Thanksgiving each year. Nadeem also participates in several social service organizations (the Omega Gents, a program steered by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.; EMBODI, hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and BeB.O.L.D., a nonprofit youth mentoring organization in Dover) where he has helped feed the homeless, staff information tables at Back-to-School Fairs, toy drives, First State Community Day, and other activities that support the local community.
Sarah Davis
Education
Nominator: Michelle Neef
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Davis been volunteering with Faithful Friends Animal Society for four years. Sarah passionately promotes, educates and supports her community and has become a true leader and advocate for her generation. Furthermore, she displays great compassion while taking the initiative to ensure the safety of animals. Her tenacity has saved the lives of many dogs and cats, and improved the lives of neighbors who care for them. Sarah has provided long-term foster care to neonate kittens and delivered food from Faithful Friends Animal Society Pet Food Bank to pet owners with low incomes or those struggling in other ways to assist them in keeping their family pets in their home. She also rescued dogs and cats from perilous environments and has been instrumental for the Trap-Neuter-Return program, which works to reduce and improve the community cat population.
Cheyenne McGowan
Environment
Nominator: Emily Krueger
Cheyenne McGowan started with the Brandywine Zoo as a summer teen intern with its Zoo Camps during the summer of 2016. After the summer, she continued her volunteer efforts by signing up to help with various educational events at the zoo, including International Red Panda Day, Vulture Weekend, and Noon Year’s Eve. Her role for these events was educating the public at learning stations using animal artifacts, activities, or crafts. In addition, Cheyenne frequently came in to interpret the zoo’s animal exhibits to the public as a docent. Since she started volunteering a year ago, Cheyenne has helped educate hundreds of people at the zoo, which serves the greater Wilmington area, on different environmental topics, including climate change, animal adaptations, and specific animal facts.
Michael Robinette
Health & Special Needs
Nominator: Margaret Jenkins
Since 2013, Michael Robinette has volunteered with the Mary Campbell Center’s Children & Youth program. Mike works with more than 100 children each summer, in a variety of age groups with unique physical or intellectual disabilities. His responsibilities include assisting children in different activities throughout the day such as arts and crafts, games, swimming and cooking. Mike also supports staff with talent show planning and production. Additionally, he provides supervision and companionship for campers on field trips during the summer camp program. Mike gets to know the campers on a one-on-one level and is quick to learn their likes and dislikes, and when they need or want help.
Santiago Vizcaino
Health & Special Needs
Nominator: Richard Huber
Santiago Vizcaino began volunteering with the Delaware Division for the Visually Impaired in the summer of 2016. During his time with the agency, Santiago has provided assistance in producing resource material for students with visual impairments, assisting staff with departmental projects and developing training procedures for the organization. Beginning at the Instruction Resource Material Center, Santiago produced large-print reading material for students, which were provided to 247 students. He developed a process that allowed books to be converted to PDF format, which allows a student with a visual impairment to use an iPad or other electronic device to review the document via voice narration or zoom text option, depending on the individual student’s needs. In addition, Santiago helped to develop training procedures for other volunteers.
Joy Baker
Human Needs
Nominator: Joyce Sessoms
In 2016 alone, Joy Baker volunteered an estimated 200+ hours in a variety of capacities in the Delmar and Laurel communities. She serves on the Youth Board of Directors of The ARK Education Resource Center, volunteers at her church as an assistant to the program coordinator responsible for youth activities, and is a member of the National Honor Society. For ARK, Joy acts as a recruiter and fundraiser, and is also an active participant in ARK-sponsored events like the Back-to-School Extravaganza held in Janosik Park.
Katelyn Craft
Human Needs
Nominator: Emily Holcombe
In July 2016, Katelyn Craft began volunteering at Exceptional Care for Children (ECC), Delaware’s first and only nonprofit pediatric skilled nursing facility for children who are medically fragile. Through the Resident Playdate volunteer program, ECC is able to provide the residents the chance to interact with individuals who can offer something other than medical care. At age 14, Katy knew she wanted to bring smiles and joy to children who have extensive medical needs. She has spent more than 100 hours reading, playing games, watching movies, assisting with arts and crafts projects, or just spending quality time with children who have little family involvement. In addition, Katy volunteered her time assisting with special events and fundraisers, like the Gala Fundraiser and Visits with Santa.
Daevean DeShields
Human Needs
Nominator: Aaron Tyson
Following the inspiration of his grandfather, Daevean DeShields created Project HOOP, which stands for Helping Out Other People. The goal of Project HOOP was to fill 1,000 bags with supplies to be distributed to people who are homeless through Faith United Methodist Church’s Open Hands Sound & Clothing Ministry. After recruiting from his local and school community (including his school principal), Daevean was able to meet and surpass his goal with a remarkable 1,015 bags assembled.
Jakob Ryan Thomas
Public Safety
Nominator: Shirin Skovronski
For almost two years, Jakob Ryan Thomas has volunteered as a junior firefighter with the Mill Creek Fire Company. In 2016 alone, he responded to 488 calls of emergency responses to structure fires, motor vehicle crashes, medical assistance, and other miscellaneous calls, amassing more than 500 volunteer hours. Jakob’s actions assisted the community in multiple emergencies, which were often quite serious and dangerous in nature.
Richard Thomas
Public Safety
Nominator: Robert Bassett, Jr.
Richard Thomas has been a volunteer firefighter with Camden-Wyoming Fire Company for two years, assisting in more than 300 emergency situations such as car accidents and house fires. Richard also assists with teaching fire prevention to children. Despite his youth, Richard is well-respected at the fire company and is seen as a mentor for new firefighters.
Ananya Singh
Social Justice/Advocacy
Nominator: Meghan Pasricha
For the past nine years, Ananya Singh has been a member of the Global Youth H.E.L.P. Inc. (GYH), a Delaware nonprofit whose mission is to train and support young people to become leaders by serving their communities through community service projects. Ananya served first as president of the middle school chapter and is currently chair of the high school chapter. Her time and efforts have been vital for many different community service projects, including the Annual Backpack Donation for the YWCA Home-Life Center, the Christmas Hygiene Product Donation, the Annual Ice Cream Party for the YWCA Home-Life Center and the Premier Charities Feeding the Homeless. She also has taught English and karate to younger children.
GROUPS
Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club
Arts & Culture
Nominator: Kenny Monroe
Following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew (Sept. 28-Oct. 10, 2016) in the Caribbean, the Teen TITAN program members of the Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club developed the “Hope for Haiti Donation Drive.” In a relatively short time, the Team Titan program members spent 400 hours collecting clothing, toiletries, bottled water, educational material and other items. More than 300 items filled more than 10 boxes and were sent to the people in Haiti to be used as they began to rebuild and recover from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.
Cape Henlopen High School Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program
Community Service
Nominator: Angela Thompson
For 10 continuous years, the participants of the Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program (JROTC) at Cape Henlopen High School have learned that everyone belongs to a community and therefore has a responsibility to that community. The 45 young men and women who comprise the current JROTC roster continue that legacy of service by devoting an average of 2,000 man-hours to community service activities benefiting a number of organizations, including the Delaware Seashore State Park, Beebe Medical Center, American Red Cross Blood Drive, the Salvation Army, Brandywine Senior Citizens Center and the National Kidney Foundation.
A.I. du Pont Middle School – Walk in the Kings Footsteps
Education
Nominator: Michele Fidance
When posed with the question “What will I do to walk in the footsteps of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?” the student body of A.I. du Pont Middle School in Wilmington decided to answer the question literally. A small group of students, led by Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) instructors, were given the project of researching the speeches of Dr. King in order to choose quotes that meant something to them. The students then inscribed their selected quote on a cut-out of a footprint, which was then affixed to the wall in the cafeteria as a means to inspire their fellow students. Once students beyond the JDG classes saw the footprints, they wanted to participate as well. The project helped to raise awareness among students of Dr. King’s life, teaching and legacy, and how it translates into community action and service.
P.S. duPont Middle School Student Council – Adopt a Family
Health and Special Needs
Nominator: Mallory Stratton
Each year, the student council of P.S. duPont Middle School in Wilmington spearheads its annual Adopt-A-Family Drive. The drive involves the school community at-large adopting the families of 15 to 20 P.S. duPont students who are need assistance to make the holiday season a little brighter. The donations of clothing, books and toys generated by the student council benefited upwards of 50 fellow students and their siblings in 2016.
Delmar High School - Wildcat Wellness Pantry
Human Needs
Nominator: Michele Fidance
The Wildcat Wellness Pantry is a food pantry at the Delmar American Legion, which provides nonperishable food and household items for individuals in need. The pantry is staffed by as many as eight Jobs for Delaware Graduate (JDG) volunteers. The JDG volunteers come in on Saturdays to assist families in need and taking inventory to ensure the pantry can reach even more people. An additional group of more than 60 volunteers collect the proceeds from canned food drives that occur during the school year to continually stock the pantry.
A box of matches turned into a bonfire.
"When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire leaving no trace of yourself." - Shunryu Suzuki
Here's to commitment to Dragonboat, and being MIA in Baguio! :(
This was our trail back to the tent from the bathroom. Every single time I walked it I thought about how I wanted to frame the boys with those branches. We never hit it at the right time & slowly we stopped hitting it altogether. Being a boy means you can sneak a potty break where & when it's most private. Being a girl makes that impossible when the private spots aren't private enough Not to mention that your children are also at the campsite. Probably not appropriate at this age (is there?)to watch Mommy squat & be one with nature. This morning he came with me & on the way back I took a couple photos. I was a happy girl.
The Goldoni Theater is the oldest and still existing theater in Venice, as well as the fourth most ancient one throughout the city (after the Michiel Theater, the Tron Theater -1581- and the San Moisé Theater -1613). It was built by the Vendramin family in 1622 and was called by their name. The opening ceremony of the theater, also named San Salvador and San Luca Theater, took place in the Autumn of the same year with a performance of the acting company “Gli Accesi”.
For the very first 30 years only comedies were performed. In 1653 the theater was destroyed by a violent fire; the new owners, Andrea and Zanetta Vendramin decided to rebuild it inside the old undamaged walls and to entrust repairs to external managers, which were the only beneficiaries of the funds but were obliged to pay out to the Vendramin family an average annual income of 1.000 ducats and to incur all the expenses.
Andrea and Zanetta were the owners for more than 40 years and kept on subcontracting to external entrepreneurs; one of the most important ones worth to be mentioned is Gaspare Torelli, an outstanding figure within the Venetian cultural panorama in those times. Librettist, costume designer and set designer if needed, Torelli signed his first contract with the Vendramin family in 1681 and it was renewed two times (this had never occurred before). In those few years he was able to leave an important mark at all levels (scheduling and productions, structural improvements, etc.). He renovated and enlarged theater and stage and renewed the equipment so as to offer an excellent theatrical seasons to the Venetian public.
The success obtained by the dynamic presence of Gaspare Torelli was obstructed by the Grimani family, who was the owner of three theaters (San Samuele Theater, SS. Giovanni e Paolo and San Giovanni Grisostomo). In 1687 Torelli renewed his commitment to the Vendramins for ten years more; the Grimanis were worried about the steady success of the contending theater and so they convinced or forced the manager to accept the movement to the Parma Court proposed by the Farneses and to sublet to them the Vendramins’ contract and the ownership of some reserved loges at the San Salvador Theater. It was certainly an interference going beyond legal limits and it could not be accepted by the Vendramin family. After Andrea’s death in 1685, indeed, Zanetta and her sons Alvise, Francesco, Andrea and Antonio took legal action, were successful and in 1869 obtained the management of the theater again. The two families who owned the Venetian theaters ended to be in competition with each other at the beginning of the 18th century; in 1703 they came to terms (for the first time in their business about the theater) and signed a contract which regulated, for five years, the performances of the San Samuele Theater and the San Salvador Theater, which started to be more and more often named as San Luca Theater in documents. At the end of the preset period, the contract was not renewed. Antonio and Francesco Vendramin, who took over from Alvise, kept on managing the theater independently until the season 1752-1753 which was the turning point thanks to the employment of Carlo Goldoni in the San Luca Theater.
The first time Goldoni showed himself in a Venetian theater was in 1734, and since then he went on being appointed by the Grimani family to hold this job at the San Samuele Theater. Then he moved to the Sant’Angelo Theater where the stage management was Girolamo Medebach and where he stayed (writing and staging 40 comedies )until the expiry date of the contract in 1753. Due to personal conflicts with Medebach, too, Goldoni left the Sant’Angelo Theater and met the Vendramins who seized the moment and offered the well known Goldoni a very favorable contract based on making a deal directly with the owner and giving him his comedies which should have been immediately paid before their reading. The trust in Goldoni’s ability to produce successful and appealing comedies was absolute. This is why his incomes had almost doubled but the most relevant fact was that he was free to get his works printed wherever and by whichever editor he liked.
Thanks to this cultural and social attitude of the whole Venetian city and of its notables, Carlo Goldoni could start that Theater reform which let him create everlasting works and characters that have always been performed on all the stages and in every language all over the world. As a matter of fact comedies like Il Campiello, Gl’innamorati and I Rusteghi date back to that time. The last season passed by Goldoni at the San Luca Theater in the year 1761 was particularly flourishing and took to produce comedies like La trilogia della villeggiatura, Sior Todero brontolon, Le baruffe chiozzotte and Una delle ultime sere di carnovale. When Carlo Goldoni left to Paris, Francesco Vendramin kept on managing the theater like a business up to the time when, in 1775, the Security Committee of the Local Authority decided that the theater was not safe and needed a drastic restoration. It was also due to the fact that the way of managing the theater by the Vendramins had stopped the profitable rental system which obliged the lessees not only to organize the shows but also to maintain and renovate the theater facility, and the San Carlo Theater was an old and unsafe building at that moment. In Autumn 1776 the theater was reopened and its activity started again with the company of Antonio Sacchi but the audience didn’t immediately meet with the Vendramins’ expectations, maybe also because during the restoration the theater had come under some structural changes and extensions, like the entrance located in Calle Berizi (the present Calle del Teatro), a new foyer and some more loges (seventeen were totally added, five of which at the first order or “pepiano” and four at each of the three following orders of loges).
The theater activity went on at a mean level until the fall of the “Serenissima” Republic in 1797, also because of the financial difficulties which the Vendramin family was drawn into. In 1798, on the 18th of January, the Austrians came into possession of Venice, according to the Campoformio Treaty which decreed that Napoleon gave Venice to Austria.
During the short term of the French domination, in 1807 the Ministry of Interior reduced the city theaters, that could only be used proportionally to the population density. The Venetian theaters were reduced to four and the San Luca one was closed. It was a large, centrally located theater, whose static conditions were not worse than the other ones, so we can suppose within reason that its closure depended above all on political motivations, as the Vendramins were suspected to sympathize with the Austrians.
In 1815, when the Austrians came again, an imperial decree gave back to the San Luca Theater the possibility to be reopened. It happened officially in 1817 following a radical structural renovation.
Specific attention was paid both to the maintenance of the theater and its amenities and to the renovation of the theater lighting and scenery equipments, also because there had always been a high and urgent competition with the other Venetian theaters, especially with the new born La Fenice.
In 1833 the foyer was enlarged, the stage was lengthened and the theater curve was adjusted; on the 28th of September the ancient Theater of the Vendramins at San Luca changed its name into Apollo Theater.
In the night between the 12th and the 13th of December 1836 La Fenice Theater was destroyed by a very aggressive fire, so the Vendramins agreed to transfer the shows, which had already been made ready for the imminent Carnival, to the Apollo Theater. That season was outstanding indeed and the opera Pia de’ Tolomei by Gaetano Donizetti was performed the first time. There was no program reduction, except for a ballet which could not be performed because of the delimited size of the stage.
Due to the Carnival and in order to give more convenience to the spectators coming from La Fenice Theater, Domenico Vendramin made a suitable landing place prepared on the Carbon bank that was next to a covered street which led directly to the door of the theater hall.
Unfortunately in 1844, when he was again thinking about a new and relevant renovation, Domenico Vendramin died prematurely and so his widow, Regina de Marchi, took on the management of the theater; her first aim was to see that her husband’s plan would come true. The Apollo Theater was the first one in Italy to be equipped with gas illumination and to be completely illuminated. In Spring 1853 the painter Ferrari Bravo was given the task to renovate the theater: it was a significant restoration in a flowered neo gothic style, which gave the Apollo Theater the new feature that distinguished it until its end.
The second half of the 19th century was a very particular and difficult period; Regina de Marchi was an intelligent woman with a strong personality and managed the theater for almost forty years. She faced in a positive way all the problems caused by historical facts to a public and well-known place like an old local theater. She hosted the celebrations for the 1848 irredentist revolt and the short free time of the new republic and faced in a dignified way the Radetzky’s oppressive regime, the disappointment of the second independence war, censure and financial difficulties, but she was still there to manage the theater when the Italian troops entered Venice on the 19th of October, in 1866.
Starting from this date the Apollo Theater activity began again and lasted for about ten years more. It’s worth to be remembered the successful activity of the new “venetian” company by Angelo Moro Lin and its writer and poet Giacinto Gallina with his comedies Le barufe in famegia and La famegia in rovina.
In 1874 another restoration work led to remove dirt from decorations and to reinforce basic structures. At the time there were five orders of balconies and 162 loges; the parterre had 560 seats and a total capacity of 1.250 seats with three exits to the street (three in the parterre, one of which towards the foyer and the other two next to the orchestra); on the side of the left scene one more exit was beneath balconies (exit shared with the Carbon under portico, a passage still used nowadays to the scenery transfer). Something worthy of note is that the second line of balconies on the right was directly joined to the owner’s home. A relevant work converted the last order of loges into a gallery.
In 1875 the actor Angelo Moro Lin and Regina de Marchi decided together to entitle the ancient San Luca Theater to Carlo Goldoni. It was obviously not only a question of name, but firstly in reference to a more pertinent “comic” characterization in honor of the great playwright and then a worthy homage to one of the most eminent sons of the city of Venice. In the evening of the 26th of February, 1875, a day after the anniversary of Goldoni’s birth (it was necessary to postpone the ceremony until one day later because of an over-the-top snowfall), the Apollo Theater died and the Carlo Goldoni Theater was born. A bust by the sculptor Soranzo, which is still present in the theater foyer, and given by the Prince Giovannelli, was shown. The ceremony was touching and Moro Lin, surrounded by his actors, made a successful speech in Venetian dialect and expressed the wish that a suitable monument would have been erected to the most famous poet of the city. All the company (who distinguished themselves as “goldonian company”) performed the comedy Una delle ultime sere di Carnovale, that is the last comedy written by Goldoni before leaving Venice indefinitely and by which he could, in some way and in a theater to him entitled, come back.
In 1880 Regina de Marchi, widow of the last member of the Vendramins, died and the grandniece Chiara Ciotto got the ownership of the theater, together with her husband Pietro Marigonda who became its director. When Pietro’s son, Antonio Marigonda, was the owner, the Goldoni Theater appeared to have some urban problems and needed some external refurbishment: these problems were solved by demolishing some crumbling buildings and by broadening the Calle del Teatro.
The façade of the theater was not adequate and some engineers were charged with planning a new one. The project was approved in May, 1909, and the construction was completed in only four months. This was the first, real façade of the ancient Vendramin Theater, which the contemporaries didn’t appreciate and which was named “railway style” façade.
Beyond the aesthetic opinion about the new façade, these years were very important for the theater activity because a clear commitment of redevelopment was focused on the very careful attention to the settlement of the artistic selection. All the best Italian companies and some foreign ones, too, referred to the Goldoni Theater and for this reason a statistical survey relating to the 1909 season about the box office takings placed Venice immediately after Milan and Rome.
After the Great War there was a remarkable relaunch of the theater activity and the Venetian audience never missed the dates with the great companies of that time. In 1923 the theater celebrated the fourth century of its existence, but the preceding year another exceptional event had inserted the Goldoni Theater in all the artistic and elite news sections of that time: Eleonora Duse had made a comeback to Venice twenty years later. In March 1922 (scarcely two years before her death) she acted two extraordinary plays: La donna del mare by Ibsen and La porta chiusa by Marco Praga.
The unexpected death of Antonio Marigonda caused a sudden stop in this very good time of artistic growth that led to a quick downfall of the activity until the closure of the theater. Piero and Andrea, Pietro Marigonda’s sons, managed the theater for a short time, till the year 1937 , when the ownership changed again and the theater was purchased by the Lawyer Giacomo Baldissera baron Treves de’ Bonfili, and the management was entrusted to ICSA (Imprese Cinematografiche Spettacoli e Affini: cinema, performances and similar Companies). The last ten years of the Goldoni Theater were not significant because of a programming of popular entertainment categories like the operetta and the revue. It is important to note that the Venetian audience took position against and was successful in avoiding the transformation of the Goldoni Theater into a movie theater, something that occurred to other ones, like the Rossini (ex San Benedetto Theater) and the Malibran (ex San Giovanni Grisostomo Theater).
During the painful years of the Second World War, the theater went on operating, also because Venice hosted the Ministry of Popular Culture and therefore the General Management Office for Performance. On the 15th of June, 1947, the theater was considered unusable and was permanently closed because of the unsafe structural conditions which needed an almost total rebuilding. That Summer in 1947 nobody could have never imagined that the old Goldoni Theater would go on being closed for such a long time and nobody could have supposed such a rough and many times changed path, the endless patience of Venetian people and the way of proceeding similar to a serialized novel with a lot of coups de théatre. The first ten years spent without an agreement between the last owner, the Lawyer Baldissera (who could not or did not want to be responsible of the necessary works), and the Municipal Administration that had decreed the building was a community benefit (so as to avoid a possible speculative use) and aimed at its expropriation. On the 5th of October, 1957, the Municipal Administration acquired the building from the Lawyer Baldissera but, at that point, the main problem was to find the necessary money to proceed.
The impasse seemed to break through by means of a project by the Fondazione Giorgio, but it had no follow-up. Two more years spent before the approval by the High Council for Public Works of a new project which was about restoration, not total renovation: it was considered a partial demolition of the building and the preservation of some structures.
At that time, there were also disputes between conservatives (who supported the theory “just like it was, just where it was”) and innovators (who were in favor of a modern structural work). The project seemed to be able to have a positive follow up and the reopening of the theater was expected, with a certain overoptimism, to occur in 1963. But in May 1962 the works were stopped because of legal disputes with the owners of the neighboring buildings. Two more years spent before a new project was approved, in September 1964. However, only in Summer 1969 the works started: a completely new building was constructed and its external structures were finished in 1973. The works could have been finished even that same year if new disputes between conservatives and innovators would not delay it. It was finally reached a compromise: to maintain the interior with the preceding distinctive features, although with some changes (four orders of loges and a gallery, instead of five orders of only loges and a raised parterre, with a consequent reduction of seats) and to construct a completely new exterior.
Finally, on the 22nd of April, 1979, with a total expense of almost three and a half milliards Lire, the theater was reopened, nineteen years later with respect to the first project, twenty nine years after the takeover by the Municipality and thirty two years after its closure. The opening performance was one of Carlo Goldoni’s masterpieces: La locandiera with Giancarlo Cobelli as a director and Carla Gravina as the leading character, together with Gabriele Ferzetti. The performance was brought touring for three years and a TV adaptation was produced, too, which can be still nowadays be seen by a DVD player.
The Municipality of Venice managed the theater for more than ten years, entrusting the conduction to various directors (among which an unforgettable person like Giorgio Gaber), until 1992, when its management was entrusted to the Teatro Stabile del Veneto, an association of which also the Giuseppe Verdi Theater of Padua is a part and that is still conducting the Goldoni Theater.
Gov Earl Ray Tomblin and 1st Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin lit the Christmas tree at the Capitol on Tuesday, Dec 6, 2016, during Joyful Night.
Welcome to Joyful Night!
As your Governor and First Lady we welcome you to the State Capitol to kick off our final 2017 Joyful Night celebration. We have cherished each holiday season we have spent with you, celebrating our state, our students and the arts!
This is a wonderful time of year, so while you are here we hope you will enjoy the sounds and sights of the season. Again this year we welcome the talents of West Virginia vocalists, instrumentalists and artisans whose commitment to the arts make the Mountain State a truly special place.
As you enjoy the evening and make your way from the tree lighting ceremony on the south side of the Capitol to the Governor’s Reception Room, please pay tribute to our first responders and military men and women who have sacrificed so much for our state and country. Many of these individuals are spending the holiday season away from their families, so we want to make sure we say “thank you” to those who serve, and for those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We hold you especially close to our hearts this holiday season.
Remember that this is a season of giving, friendship, family and camaraderie. These are the values that all West Virginians hold dear. Tonight is a joyful night, a night to reflect on our many blessings and extending goodwill to all.
We thank you for the privilege of serving the Great State of West Virginia as your Governor and First Lady for the past six years. May your holidays be filled with joy, laughter and love, and may you have a joyous New Year.
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016
Holiday Trees
South - Lincoln Plaza - Norway Spruce
donated by Brenda and David Hanson,
Winfield, W.Va.
North Plaza Fountain Circle - Spruce donated by Ike Smith (Kanawha Roxalana Company), Charleston, W.Va.
Governor’s Mansion Foyer - Frasier Fir donated by Al and Louise Toliver of Crickmer Farms, Danese, W.Va. (West Virginia
Christmas Tree Growers Assoc.)
State Capitol Rotunda
6:30 p.m. – Concert Performance and First Lady’s Ornament Competition
Governor’s Reception Room
7 p.m. – Gold Star, Military and First Responder Recognition
• Governor and First Lady Tomblin salute military tree
• Sign holiday cards for military
Culture Center
7:25 p.m. – Concert and Refreshments
• Martin Luther King Jr. Male Chorus
• Visit Santa and Mrs. Claus
Governor’s Mansion
8 p.m. – Concert Performances and Reading
• Appalachian Children’s Chorus
• Artistree presentation
• Governor and First Lady Tomblin read • Governor’s School for the Arts:
Fr
om Nicholas County High School
Jordan Harper, piano
Jacob Martin, violin
• Christ Church United Methodist Chancel Ringers
First Lady Introduces Ornament Winners
Grades K–2: Mountain View Elementary Kindergarten Class, Hurricane
Grades 3–5: West Teays Elementary Fourth Grade, Hurricane
Grades 6–8: Baileysville Elementary & Middle School, Seventh Grade, Oceana
Grades 9–12: Notre Dame High School Art I Class, Clarksburg
• Toys for Tots holiday donations program
South Plaza Fountain
5:30 p.m. - Concert Performance
• Cabell Midland High School
• Hurricane Middle School
• Hurricane High School
• Poca High School
• Spring Valley High School
• Appalachian Children’s Chorus
6 p.m. – Tree Lighting Ceremony
Posting of the Colors
Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy
National Anthem
Pledge of Allegiance
Mountaineer Challenge Academy
Musical Performance
Appalachian Children’s Choir
Tree Lighting
Governor and First Lady Tomblin
Musical Performance - All Bands
Retirement of the Colors
Night
Joyful
Happy Holidays
Photos available for media use. All photos should be attributed “Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor.”
Roddy Doyle's', The Commitments is now a musical in London and is playing at the Palace Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. This is 3 exposures with -1+ stops bracketing, then Photomatix for HDR and tonemapping treatment, and finally Photoshop for the finishing touches.
CEO Emily Westergaard of the By Degrees Foundation announced the latest development in its sustained commitment to DMPS students at all levels in the Northside feeder pattern on Wendesday, October 16th at Harding Middle School. Iowa State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald and DMPS Superintendent Dr. Tom Ahart spoke after Westergaard encouraging students to attend college and to use their newly opened college savings accounts.
Sometimes he wondered if it was worth doing. Occasionally he doubted his motives. However, he never forgot where the journey started and where it would end. He would see this through. One way or the other.
RAF Vickers VC10 Aircraft
Victoria (ZA147 'Foxtrot') takes a shower before her next commitment; she still looks great, and her 'dance card' is usually full!
This is one of the last two RAF VC-10 aircraft of No. 101 Squadron receiving a final wash by the Serco wash team prior to her final sortie.
-------------------------------------------------------
On 26th September 2013 a great chapter of British aviation history closed when, after 47 years of exceptional service, the last flying Vickers VC10 K3 aircraft, ZA147, 'Foxtrot', took off from Royal Air Force Brize Norton and then landed into retirement at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome in Leicestershire. This aircraft holds the record for the fastest ever flight of an airliner from London to Australia.
Until 26th September 2013, RAF Brize Norton maintained a fleet of VC10 as dual-role air transport and Air-to-Air Refuelling aircraft. In the AT role, the aircraft was used for troop carrying, with accommodation for 124 passengers and nine crew. Use of a large freight door in the rear cabin, on the forward left side, of the aircraft allows easy conversion of the aircraft into a dual-role passenger/freight or full-freight configuration. In its full-freight role, the cabin could hold up to 20,400kgs of palletised freight, ground equipment or vehicles, on its permanently strengthened floor. The aircraft could also be used for aero-medical evacuation, for which up to 68 stretchers may be fitted.
-------------------------------------------------------
© Crown Copyright 2013
Photographer: Paul Crouch - RAF Brize Norton Photographic Section
Image: Victoria Takes a Shower-1
From: www.raf.mod.uk/rafbrizenorton/
Note: The reuse of this file is limited, and is currently available under the MOD News Licence only, a link to which is published in the 'MOD copyright licensing information' document on the Ministry of Defence copyright licensing information page.
More info about RAF Brize Norton:
www.raf.mod.uk/rafbrizenorton/
Follow us:
www.facebook.com/royalairforcebrizenorton/
Dec. 1, 2011 marks Iraq's Day of Commitment. The ceremony hosted by the Iraqi government at Al Faw Palace, in Baghdad, Iraq would be the last of it's kind as U.S. forces continue to draw out of Iraq. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, took the opportunity to thank U.S. and Iraqi service members for all of their sacrifices that led to the end of an almost decade long war.
U.S. Forces Iraq
Photo by Staff Sgt. Caleb Barrieau
Related Photos: dvidshub.net/r/x9u2rk
Entrance Walk to GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Constitution Gardens along Lincoln Memorial North Elm Walkway, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Leslie Tsou visited U.S. Air Force personnel and F-16 jet fighters from the 510th Fighter Squadron, Aviano Air Base, Italy, who took part in exercise Blue Flag 2017 at Uvda Air Base in southern Israel November 14, 2017. U.S. Air Force participation in the exercise supports our nation's commitment to Israel's defense and supports Israel's qualitative military edge. The U.S. and Israel's continuing contributions to develop and improve air readiness are significant in maintaining security and building a strong partnership.
Christian leaders across Australia are right now holding nationwide sit-ins inside the electoral offices of 7 Government politicians in 6 cities.
Today’s peaceful action of more than 50 church-goers is in response to reports that the Government is planning to send 25 babies — who were born on Australia soil to families seeking safety — to the Nauru detention centre. These Christian leaders come from the full breadth of the Australian church (including Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican and others).
The Christian leaders are committed to remaining in the MPs’ offices until the Government publicly promises that no children will be detained offshore, and that all asylum-seeker children will be released into the Australian community with their families. Sit-ins are occurring in the Sydney office of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, as well as 6 other Government representatives in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane (details below).
“Despite Mr Morrison’s claim that if his amendments to the Migration Act passed Parliament he would release all children from Australian detention centres, his very first act after the Bill was passed was to move 25 precious babies in preparation for sending them to offshore detention in Nauru,” said Love Makes a Way spokesperson Kate Leaney. “This is not only cruel, it is a contradiction of the Immigration Minister’s own words.”
“We are here in part to pray and appeal to Mr Morrison that he, as a committed Christian, might have a change of heart and be true to his word. At Christmas, how can we celebrate the birth of Jesus who quickly became a refugee fleeing persecution and not speak out for these 25 babies whose families have also fled persecution?
“Today we call on the Government to make a public commitment that no child will be imprisoned offshore. Mr Morrison, these 25 babies born on Australian soil and the 167 children currently in Nauru must be released into the community with their families,” said Ms Leaney.
Sister Susan Connelly is currently participating in the sit-in prayer vigil at Scott Morrison’s office, "I'm a Catholic, and a Religious Sister. I am opposed to a national system which treats innocent people as criminals. The way Australia is treating asylum seekers is a slap in the face to human dignity. It is undermining Australia's ethics and integrity."
Matt Anslow is also currently participating in the sit-in prayer vigil at Scott Morrison’s office. For Anslow who grew up in Mr. Morrison's electorate of Cook, the issue of how we treat asylum seekers is more personal. "After my grandmother arrived as a pregnant Hungarian refugee she gave birth to my mother on Australian soil. Mum wasn't sent to a detention centre, she was welcomed as an Aussie, so why can't we do the same now?"
Preparations to transfer the babies are reportedly underway despite a deal made between Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Senate crossbenchers that guaranteed children in Australian detention centres would be released. In August, while facing an inquiry into child detention, Mr Morrison said: “Nobody, and especially nobody in this Government, wants to see children in detention if it can be avoided.”
Refugee and health experts, including from the UN, Amnesty International and the Australian Medical Association, have roundly condemned Australia’s detention regime. The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce referred to child detention as “state-sanctioned child abuse”.
Australian churches have been united in their opposition to the Government’s asylum-seeker policies, particularly child detention.
Today’s sit-ins are part of the ongoing Christian movement called “Love Makes a Way”. Since the first sit-in at Scott Morrison’s office in March this year, more than 100 Christian leaders have been peacefully arrested (and praised for their conduct by magistrates) as part of #LoveMakesAWay actions calling on the Government to adopt a compassionate approach to asylum-seekers.
Awarding ceremony for the IAEA Nuclear Security Essay Competition on the Future of Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions. A side event organised by the IAEA Division of Nuclear Security and the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom. IAEA Vienna, Austria. 7 December 2016
Photo Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA
This is a picture of my grandparent's hands clasped together. I made it with darkroom photography. My inspiration was just love and hope I can have a relationship like theirs. Available for purchase at fineartamerica.com/profiles/rachael-lahar.html
ROSMAN, NC (May 16-17, 2015)—For fourteen years, Rosman High School students have voluntarily locked in with teachers and schoolmates for fun, food, and fellowship after the prom. It’s reasonable to ask why students, after spending the evening together and with many other options available, keep this tradition going.
Attending for three or four years straight suggests that these Tigers are convinced: getting locked in, not up, is more than a vote for safety. It offers unique opportunities that only come around one night a year. And at midnight after the Rosman High School prom on May 16, about 170 students once again packed the gym for fellowship and fun.
Senior Megan Lewandowski has attended three times. “I’ve always loved the lock-in, and I might probably just go home otherwise,” she said, “but now I’m at the age where people are starting to party, and I appreciate the effort made by our school to keep people out of trouble. Plus, you get to throw dodgeballs at teachers!”
All Rosman High students are invited, whether they attend prom or not. “I think the biggest advantage is getting to spend time with friends and teachers,” said RHS junior Anna Cobb, who has attended for three years. “We are able to go to school the next week and talk about the fun we had together, and laugh at our ‘tired’ personalities.”
Taking over Boshamer Gymnasium at Brevard College, as they do each year, provides abundant choices for attendees. From sports, such as dodgeball and 3-on-3 basketball, to leisure, in movie rooms or hallways lined with sleeping bags, students sprawl into suitable spaces and pass the night in safety.
Along with students who locked in within 30 minutes after the prom, 46 adults enlisted for some or all of the night. That number included 24 from Rosman High, seven from RMS, three from the TCS central office, several parents, and others from Brevard High, Blue Ridge College, the National Guard recruiter’s office, and the Sheriff’s Department.
School Resource Officer Greg Stroup has organized the event since it began, and fellow SRO’s Desirée Abram and Michael Hall were on hand as well. Sheriff David Mahoney enlisted as both target and marksman, right alongside teachers and administrators, for a grueling dodgeball match.
Students have plenty of options after the prom, such as sleepovers and bonfires, which they put aside to join the lock-in. Officer Stroup said that thinking of creative ways to help kids stay safe has always been the goal of the event, and thanks to community support it continues to work today.
“What a wonderful opportunity it has been to offer this activity for 14 years to our kids on such a special night,” said Stroup. “If it was not for the generosity of the community, this event would not be possible.”
Brevard College offers free use of the athletic building, and almost 70 donors provides prizes or cash donations. Transylvania Youth Association generously offered $1,000 to support the event, and even more goes each year to the T-shirts again provided by the Sheriff’s Office.
Every student enjoys pizza and soda or water throughout the night, and is assured of winning a door prize from gift certificates to swag offered by dozens of local businesses. Larger gifts reserved for a seniors-only drawing provide a bonus for locking in after the last prom of a student’s high-school career.
Among the seniors, Dillon Zachary won the flat-screen television, while Megan Lewandowski’s lucky number landed her a dorm fridge to take to college. Kimberly Holliday won a GoPro camera, and Jacey Voris got tickets to ‘Dancing with the Stars.’
One of the most coveted senior prizes each year, a kayak, went to Jon Miller who was also celebrating his 18th birthday. At classroom awards on the Monday after lock-in, senior Keen Jones took home a microwave oven.
The plentiful gifts seem to drive home what organizers hope to convey: “The message sent to us is that our school is a family, and that our teachers really care about the students,” said Anna Cobb. “It allows us to have fun together and see teachers when they’re a little more laid back.”
Continued high attendance among all the grades at RHS showed organizers that the effort is well worth it. Attendance is free, even for guests from other schools, which helps to stretch a family’s dollar after covering prom-related expenses.
To keep everyone fed and hydrated, this year’s lock-in required 35 Jet’s pizzas, 14 cases of drinks, 100 juice boxes, a pound of coffee, and 200 biscuits from Brevard’s new Bojangles restaurant.
Students know not to miss the party, where memorable moments are made every year. Organizer Julie Queen said, “I love seeing the students come in Monday morning with their T-shirts on, and laughing about having such a great time.”
With a long track record of success, she said that donors and former students have learned to set their spring clocks according to the all-nighter as well.
“It is a very rewarding feeling to have alumni tell you what fond memories they have of the lock-in,” said Queen. “I have even had some call and ask for ideas because they want to replicate it in other places.”
Board of Education member Betty Scruggs arrived Sunday morning to provide moral support during the home stretch and found what she expected after attending in 2014: with some students playing basketball, watching a movie, or playing electronic games, several had also given into sleeping.
“I am delighted with all the students and staff members who participate in the lock-in,” said Scruggs. “It builds community and great memories more than any other single event.”
“They create a well-planned evening of activities in a fun and safe environment, all because of their passion for RHS and commitment to service,” she added. “This lock-in could not happen without a vast number of hours and tremendous amount of phone calls Julie Queen and SRO Greg Stroup make throughout the school year. What a difference they make!”
These and many other pictures can be found on the school system's photo website at flickr.com/tcsnc/sets under "RHS After-Prom Lock-In 2015."
Rosman High School and the organizers wish to thank all their donors and the following sponsors who made the 14th Annual After-Prom Lock-In possible:
Appalachian Construction of Pisgah Forest, Blue Ridge Community College, Brevard College, CARE Coalition – Promoting a drug free community. Comporium, Dalton Insurance, Ecusta Credit Union, Farm Bureau Insurance, Fraternal Order of Police—NC Lodge #14, French Broad Trailer Park, Jiffy Lube, M&B Industries, NC National Guard, NC Farm Bureau, Petit’s Paint and Body, RHS Athletics, RHS students, parents, faculty, and staff, RHS Tiger Club, State Farm Insurance – Meredith Baldridge, Self-Help Credit Union, Sheriff David Mahoney, The Fitness Factory, Toxaway Grading, Transylvania Youth Association, United Way, and the Transylvania Co. Sheriff’s Office.
© 2015, Transylvania County Schools. All rights reserved.
Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.
Boeing announced today at the Farnborough International Airshow a commitment by Avolon to purchase 10 737 MAX 8s and 5 737 MAX 9s, as well as 10 Next-Generation 737-800s. The commitment has a list-price value of $2.3 billion and also includes reconfirmation rights for 5 more 737 MAX airplanes.
This image shows a 737 MAX 8 in Avolon livery.
Boeing provides this photo for the public to share. Media interested in high-resolution images for publication should email boeingmedia@boeing.com or visit boeing.mediaroom.com. Users may not manipulate or use this photo in commercial materials, advertisements, emails, products, or promotions without licensed permission from Boeing. If you are interested in using Boeing imagery for commercial purposes, email imagelicensing@boeing.com or visit www.boeingimages.com.
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool North Pathway, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography
Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/
Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020
This woman was one of several disabled activists who participated in the mass civil disobedience in Parliament Square on 6 September 2025, protesting the proscription of Palestine Action. Her determined presence challenges the state's attempt to criminalise solidarity, demonstrating that the commitment to justice transcends physical barriers.
By displaying a sign in support of Palestine Action, she was knowingly breaking a law that carried a potentially lengthy prison sentence. Her act was part of a silent, collective insistence that conscience cannot be outlawed, especially in the face of the ongoing genocide in Gaza
++++++++++++++++++++++
Protest and the Price of Dissent: Palestine Action and the Criminalisation of Conscience
Parliament Square on Saturday, 6 September 2025 was a scene of quiet, almost solemn defiance. The air, usually thick with the noise of London traffic and crowds of tourists, was instead filled with a palpable tension, a shared gravity that emanated from the quiet determination of hundreds of protesters, many of them over 60 years old, some sitting on steps or stools and others lying on the grass.
They held not professionally printed banners, but handwritten cardboard signs, their messages stark against the historic grandeur of their surroundings. This was not a march of chants and slogans, but a silent vigil of civil disobedience, a deliberate and calculated act of defiance against the state.
On that day, my task was to photograph the protest against the proscription of the direct-action group Palestine Action. While not always agreeing entirely with the group’s methods, I could not help but be struck by the profound dedication etched on the faces of the individual protesters.
As they sat in silence, contemplating both the horrific gravity of the situation in Gaza and the enormity of the personal risk they were taking — courting arrest under terror laws for holding a simple placard — their expressions took on a quality not dissimilar to what war photographers once called the “thousand-yard stare.” It was a look of weary but deep and determined resolve, a silent testament to their readiness to face life-changing prosecution in the name of a principle.
This scene poses a profound and unsettling question for modern Britain. How did the United Kingdom, a nation that prides itself on its democratic traditions and the right to protest, arrive at a point where hundreds of its citizens — clergy, doctors, veterans, and the elderly — could be arrested under counter-terrorism legislation for an act of silent, peaceful protest?
The events of that September afternoon were the culmination of a complex and contentious series of developments, but their significance extends far beyond a single organisation or demonstration. The proscription of Palestine Action has become a critical juncture in the nation’s relationship with dissent, a test of the elasticity of free expression, and a stark examination of its obligations under international law in the face of Israel deliberately engineering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
To understand what is at stake, one must unravel the threads that led to that moment: the identity of the movement, the state’s legal machinery of proscription, the confrontation in Parliament Square, and the political context that compelled so many to risk their liberty.
Direct Action and the State’s Response
Palestine Action, established in 2020, has never hidden its approach. Unlike traditional lobbying groups, it rejected appeals to political elites in favour of disrupting the physical infrastructure of complicity: factories producing parts for Israeli weapons systems, offices of arms manufacturers, and — eventually — military installations themselves.
Its tactics, while non-violent, were disruptive and confrontational. Red paint sprayed across buildings to symbolise blood, occupations that halted production, chains and locks on factory gates. For supporters, these were acts of conscience against a system enabling atrocities in Gaza. For the state, they were criminal disruptions of commerce.
That clash escalated steadily. In Oldham, a persistent campaign against Elbit Systems, a key manufacturer in the Israeli arms supply chain, culminated in the company abandoning its Ferranti site. Later actions targeted suppliers for F-35 fighter jets and other arms manufacturers. These were no random acts of mindless vandalism but part of a deliberate strategy: to impose costs high enough that complicity in Israel’s war effort would become unsustainable.
The decisive rupture came in June 2025, when activists infiltrated RAF Brize Norton, Britain’s largest airbase, and sprayed red paint into the engines of refuelling aircraft linked to operations over Gaza. For the activists, it was a desperate attempt to interrupt a supply chain of surveillance and logistical support to a state commiting genocide. For the government, it crossed a line: military assets had been attacked. Within days, the Home Secretary announced Palestine Action would be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Proscription and the Expansion of “Terrorism”
Here lies the heart of the controversy. The Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism with unusual breadth, encompassing not only threats to life but also “serious damage to property” carried out for political or ideological aims. In this capacious definition, breaking a factory window or disabling a machine can be legally assimilated to mass murder.
By invoking this law, the government placed Palestine Action on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda or ISIS. Supporting it — even symbolically — became a serious offence.
Since July 2025, merely expressing support for the organization can carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
This is based on Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The specific offense is "recklessly expressing support for a proscribed organisation". However, according to Section 13 of the Act, a lower-level offence for actions like displaying hand held placards in support of a proscribed group carries a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment or a fine of five thousand pounds or both.
Civil liberties groups and human rights bodies have denounced the proscription move as disproportionate. Their concern was not primarily whether Palestine Action’s tactics might violate existing criminal law. One might reasonably argue that they did unless they might sometimes be justified in the name of preventing a greater crime.
But reframing those actions as “terrorism” represented a dangerous category error. As many pointed out, terrorism has historically referred to violence against civilians. Expanding it to cover property damage risks draining the term of meaning. Worse, it arms the state with a stigma so powerful that it can delegitimise entire political positions without debate.
The implications go further. Proscription does not simply criminalise acts. It criminalises expressions of allegiance, conscience and even speech. To say “I support Palestine Action” is no longer an opinion but technically a serious crime. The state has moved from punishing deeds to punishing expressions of solidarity — a move with chilling consequences for democratic life.
Parliament Square: Civil Disobedience on Trial
It was this transformation that brought nearly 1,500 people into Parliament Square on 6 September. They knew what awaited them. Organisers announced in advance that protesters would hold signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” In doing so, they openly declared their intent to break the law.
The crowd was strikingly diverse. Retired doctors, clergy, war veterans, even an 83-year-old Anglican priest. Disabled activists came in wheelchairs; descendants of Holocaust survivors stood beside young students. This was not a hardened cadre of militants but a cross-section of society, many of whom had never before faced arrest.
At precisely 1 pm, the protesters all sat or lay down silently, cardboard signs raised. There was no chanting, no aggression — only a quiet insistence that they would not accept the criminalisation of conscience.
The police response was equally predictable. Hundreds of officers moved systematically through the crowd, arresting anyone displaying a sign. By the end of the day, nearly 900 people were detained under counter-terrorism law. It was one of the largest mass arrests in modern British history.
Official statements later alleged police were met with violence — officers punched, spat on, objects thrown. Yet independent observers, including Amnesty International, contradicted this. They reported a peaceful assembly disrupted by aggressive policing: batons drawn, protesters shoved, some bloodied.
www.amnesty.org/zh-hans/documents/eur45/0273/2025/en/
Video footage supported at least some of Amnesty's report.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQGFrqCf5U&t=1283s
The two narratives were irreconcilable, but only one carried the weight and authority of the state.
The entire event unfolded as political theatre. The government proscribed a group, thereby creating a new crime. Protesters, convinced the law was unjust, announced their intent to commit that crime peacefully. The police, forewarned, staged a vast operation. Each side acted out its script. The spectacle allowed the state to present itself as defending order against extremism — while in reality silencing dissent.
The Humanitarian Context: Why Protesters Risked All
To see the Parliament Square protest as a parochial dispute over free speech is to miss its driving force. The demonstrators were not there merely to defend abstract principles. They were responding to what they, and a growing body of international experts, describe as a genocide in Gaza.
By September 2025, Gaza had descended into almost total collapse. Over 63,000 Palestinians had been killed, the majority of them women and children. More than 150,000 had been injured, many maimed for life. Entire neighbourhoods had been flattened. Famine was confirmed in August, with Israel continuing to impose and even tighten deliberate restrictions on food, water, and fuel, a strategy condemned by human rights groups as a major war crime. Hospitals lay in ruins. Ninety percent of the population had been displaced.
It is in this context that the term genocide has been applied. Legal scholars point not only to mass killings but also to the deliberate infliction of life-destroying conditions, accompanied by rhetoric from Israeli officials dehumanising Palestinians as “human animals.” In September 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars declared that Israel’s actions met the legal definition of genocide.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde3eyzdr63o
Major NGOs, UN experts, and even Israeli human rights groups such as B’Tselem echoed that conclusion.
For the protesters, then, the question was not abstract but immediate: faced with what they saw as a genocide, could they in good conscience remain silent while their own government criminalised resistance to it? Their answer was to risk arrest, their placards making the moral connection explicit: opposing genocide meant supporting those who sought to stop it.
The Price of Dissent
The mass arrests in Parliament Square were not an isolated incident of law enforcement. They were the product of a broader trajectory: escalating tactics by a direct-action movement, a humanitarian catastrophe abroad, and a government determined to suppress dissent at home through the bluntest of instruments.
The official line insists that Palestine Action’s campaign constituted terrorism and thus warranted proscription. On this view, the arrests were simple enforcement of the law. Yet this account obscures the deeper reality: a precedent in which the state redefined non-lethal protest as terrorism, shifting from punishing actions to criminalising expressions of solidarity.
The cost is profound. Once speech and conscience themselves become suspect, dissent is no longer tolerated but pathologised. The chilling effect is already evident: individuals weigh not just whether to join a protest, but whether uttering support might expose them to years in prison. Terror laws, originally justified as a shield against mass violence, are recast as tools of political management.
The protesters understood this. That “thousand-yard stare” captured in their faces was not only the weight of potential arrest, but the knowledge of Gaza’s devastation, the famine and rubble, the deaths mounting daily. It was also the recognition that their own government had chosen to silence them rather than address its complicity.
In a functioning democracy, the question is not why citizens risk arrest for holding a handwritten cardboard sign. It is why a state finds it necessary to treat that act as a terror offence. The answer reveals a narrowing of democratic space, where conscience itself is deemed subversive. And that narrowing, history teaches, carries consequences not just for those arrested, but for the society that allows it.