Sean Kershaw's Weblog
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February 15, 2008
Happy Birthday to the Citizens League!
Yesterday (the 14th) was the 56th Anniversary of the Citizens League. Happy Birthday to us!
Lunch was a perfect way to celebrate the occasion! Ann and I had lunch with Paul Gilje, Verne Johnson, Jim Hetland, Todd Lefko, Ben Cox, Zach Pettis and Kelly Weber.
Paul and Verne built the Citizens League -- literally. Verne has been a member since the beginning, and was the Executive Director from 1957 to 1967. Paul worked for the CL for 24 years, beginning in 1964. Jim was Chair of the Board, and was the first Chair of the Met Council. Todd has been a member since the 1960s, and is as active and inspiring as ever. Each of them is a model for how to do amazing policy work and civic engagement, and we owe our success to their work, their high standards, and their continued involvement.
Zach and Kelly are newer members, and represent the best of what is yet to come. Their interest in learning from the Civic Caucus, and in pushing us to find new ways to involve newer members, is timely and helpful (and inspiring). And fun.
We're about to send out our "Anniversary letter" that will talk about some of these themes, but I feel incredibly lucky to be at this point in our history. This year can be -- and must be -- another big leap for us in terms of policy work and success, membership growth and engagement, and internal sustainability.
Thanks to you -- and to them -- for making this possible!
Posted by Sean Kershaw at February 15, 2008 5:03 AM