Marilyn and I had the honor and pleasure of attending an Event at Penn Avenue Place (the old Horne's Department Store building for all of you old-timers out there) this past Wednesday evening wherein Highmark celebrated the Highmark Caring Place's twentieth anniversary of serving the needs of grieving children and their families in Western Pennsylvania.
Regular readers know of my connection to and feelings about the Caring Place, so I will not restate them here, but it was so nice to be guest at this event and share time with the CP staff members and other volunteers. The evening was in large part, and most deservedly so, a tribute to the man who started the Caring Foundation back in the late 1980's and also began the Caring Place, Charlie LaVallee.
When I worked at the Blues, it was not a part of my job to interact with Charlie on a regular basis, but when I did, I knew that I was dealing with a man who was truly one of "the good guys". The Caring Place would not exist without the vision and the efforts of Charlie LaVallee, and the tribute that he received on Wednesday was well earned and deserved.
Charlie serves today as Chairman of Variety, The Children's Charity, and in that role he continues to serve the needs of the less fortunate, particularly children, among us. I am proud to call him a friend.
On another note, it was kind off strange to go into the building, and actually be on the same floor where I spent the last eleven years of my working career. Can't quite describe the feeling. I was also happy to chat that evening with Deb Rice-Johnson. Today, Deb serves as President of Highmark Health, and, as such, is one of the more prominent women in business in Pennsylvania. Once upon a time however, she was one of my Directors. I had not seen Deb in five or six years, and I was delighted to find her to be as gracious as ever to this old co-worker of hers.
Congratulations to the Highmark Caring Place for twenty years of service to this community. I am so honored to be a small part of its mission.
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