I want to wish all our Jewish members, friends and families a very happy and healthy Passover starting with tonight’s Seder. As we celebrate the festival of the liberation of the Jewish people, alone or with our immediate family or together on a digital platform, it’s important to remind ourselves about the true meaning of freedom and liberty and our mutual responsibility to save our country.

As we celebrate the Festival of Freedom during this “11th plague,” Christians celebrate Holy Week this week, and Jewish people retell the story of the Exodus out of slavery in Egypt to receive the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and ultimately reach the Holy Land to “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof!” from Leviticus 25:10, which formed the basis of our Judeo-Christian culture.

I want to share with you a very uplifting message of hope from a dear friend:

Wishing you a Passover that brings strength and good health to endure the year ahead.  Couldn’t be a more appropriate time for the angel of death to pass over all our homes especially while we are sheltering in place.  It is at stressful times like these that our resolve is strengthened and we question whether these things happen for a reason. Hopefully it will be a wake up call to save our country. Seems like G-d is sending that message and the President is the Moses of the modern era. We mourn those people however who have been sacrificed and let us pray that we will all emerge as a stronger and healthier country.
Chag Pesach Sameach

Best wishes for the safety, health and happiness of you and your loved ones. We, members of the Queens Village Republican Club believe we will come out of this pandemic stronger than before and our greatest days are ahead of us!

Phil Orenstein
President
Queens Village Republican Club
America’s Oldest Republican Club – Founded 1875
Please donate at www.qvgop.org

It takes an army to educate a child

Letter from Sgt. Eric Spinner

Editors Note: This letter to the Queens Village Republican Club, from Sgt Eric Spinner, proud US Army Veteran and one of the directors of the NY Metro Chapter of ACT for America, was sent after participating in the club’s April 2^nd Zoom Video Meeting on the Electoral College.  

Once again you have put together a terrific meeting.  Under the challenges we’re facing, it’s a terrific venue that unfortunately requires a verbal request for financial support.  Unless they figure out how to do a 50/50 online, that’s what we’re reduced to.  One way or another, we’ll make it work for us!

The choice of speakers was terrific.  Jerry Matacotta was new to my world, but I’ve heard Trent England before, and Nick Giordano was one of our leading speakers for a NYMetroACT meeting.  Their insight into the failures of the educational system is apparent in their analyses of the questions.

One of your guests, James M, had posted some questions about how to change the system, and gave as an example the fact that his sister taught in NYC and, if I may paraphrase, had no freedom to teach the facts or express her opinions for danger of being disciplined by superiors or denied union protections.  I understand that, having survived over 37 years in the NYC system.  However, I taught in a different era, and I probably got away with things that today’s teachers might not be able to get away with.  I spoke my mind and let the chips fall where they may!  I’d like to believe that I put many young errant minds back on track, but teaching is filled with intangibles- we don’t often get to see the results of our efforts.

Most of the speakers seemed to agree that involvement with the schools is a good idea, and the suggestion that getting involved at the lower grades is the way to proceed.  You can shout at the Chancellor of the NYCDOE all day and night to no avail.  But speaking with teachers at local board meetings can bear fruit.  I’m checking to see when my local districts meet, and those who see the problem and can present a legitimate case for change should do the same.

I also see this from the perspective of a military veteran.  The American Legion is very active in schools and teaches Americanism, Flag etiquette, and respect.  Another of my organizations, the Vietnam War Veterans Association, takes it a step further.  We have been going to about a dozen high schools, several middle schools and a few elementary schools for many years at the invitation of teachers and administrators.  We send a group of from 5-12 veterans, mostly Vietnam and Vietnam era, to teach social studies for the entire day, mostly about freedom, patriotism and service to country with a focus on the Vietnam era.  We have always been well-received by students and staff, and most react by saying that they never knew or understood much of what we presented.  My take on this is that the effort is not wasted, it’s just too limited in scope.

They say it takes a village to educate a child.  Perhaps it takes an army.  Perhaps we can be that army to get involved and make the change!  We certainly need it now!

2020 is here as we embrace digital gatherings!

By Joseph Concannon

As every restaurant, pizza parlor, bar and food court shutter their doors, so too did Antuns Caterers by order of the State of New York in addressing the Coronavirus.  What would happen to our dinner, our fundraiser, and how would we move forward?

For the very first time all New Yorkers were introduced to “social distancing.”  Social distancing is the nemesis of our annual gala in which socialization and networking are key components.  Our dinner is a place where politicians and candidates alike come to “shake hands,” develop new relationships and enjoy the historical aspects of the event.

Our 145^th event was on pace to once again have 400-500 attendees, rekindle relationships, enjoy a great dinner and service by Antuns.  Yet it seemed as though every signal we received was to cancel the event out of hand and suffer the loss.

We are the Queens Village Republican Club.  We are strong-minded, independent and determined to overcome adversity in all its forms.  We never back down, never cower at the sign of opposition and we break down barriers large and small to accomplish our mission.  It is who we are as a club and for 145 years we have prevailed.

Our forward-thinking club needed to make a key strategic decision in the face of this virus and that was whether to present our dinner to our members and friends in a digital format.  This meant reviewing our flyer with formatted agenda and transferring that into a digital show.  Sounds easy, but it is a ton of work and requires an enormous amount of flexibility and focus.  Our speakers, our awardees, our introductions, our master of ceremonies, every aspect of our event had to be duplicated, verified and assigned a place in our digital dinner.

Frustrated at every turn, how would our members, friends and families respond?  Could we get our members, friends, event attendees to buy into this new format of video conferencing and tune in for two hours?  How would we fundraise and would our members when confronted with these challenges rise to the occasion?  We thought we were doomed. 

Surprise, surprise, as our board members joined us for four nights of training and familiarity as we tested out Zoom video conferencing and experimented with its functions.  We were gaining confidence.  Steve Bannon said no problem.  Katie Hopkins flew into NY for our event and several others and then had to fly back before the travel ban into the UK kicked in.  A day later Katie confirmed she was fully on board.  Confidence was certainly building. Each of our honorees developed a video and we knew we had a winner.  Especially as Sgt. Philip Kahn, 100 years young stepped up and gave a terrific video presentation.  Sgt. Kahn just blew us away, a true patriot!

The 145^th Digital Dinner went off without a hitch, donations are still coming in as of this writing so our accounting for the event is going to be delayed.  The generosity of our members and friends is a testament to the strength and power of our wonderful club.  This event was our annual fundraiser.  Everyone knew it and after our digital dinner we heard from many of you, “I want to donate my ticket to the club”, “I want to donate 75 dollars” and many, many other expressions of generosity.  It’s frankly overwhelming.  Thank you is just not enough and keep it coming because we have some huge bills to pay. 

Our club and its prominence in New York goes without saying.  Remember please, and help us teach and inform others that elections have consequences and voting matters.