November 2010 - Note: This is both an ONLINE and PRINT Edition

November 2010 Presidents Letter

With the memories of our summer activities fading into the brisk air of Fall, we can tuck all of the fun memories created by Emerald Societies warm month events away, and look forward to our upcoming winter festivities.
 

The past 10 months of Emerald Society events were fun filled and well attended by our loyal members.  Even during these uncertain economic times, we experienced wonderful turn-outs at the ever popular Annual Golf Outing, Family Picnic, our 35th Anniversary Dinner Dance and October –Fest. Again, I commend each and every Emerald Society Board Member for their unwavering allegiance to this organization. The generosity displayed by all, (past and present Board members) ensures the continued success of the Emerald Society. Everyone dug into their pockets a little deeper, gave so generously of their valuable time and ensured each and every Event was a tremendous success. I would also like to
take the time to thank all of our loyal members, who like I have said many times before, support the Emerald Society by attending/supporting our meetings and special events. You are all a true testament to your Irish heritage and to your strong Irish roots in Law Enforcement. We are the Irish, and it is pretty easy to see that we are here for the long haul, like our fathers and now mothers before us!  So as we come to the close of yet another year lets all do our best to ensure the Emerald Society and its members remain “The Biggest Gang in Law Enforcement” in the state and carry on the strong values instilled in all of us by our Irish ancestors as we “Continue the Tradition”.

Go mbeannai Dra duit,
(May God Bless You)

Debbie O’Connor-Dimaggio
President
Emerald Society of Illinois

Annual Golf Outing

This years Golf Outing proved yet another successful event for our Past President and “Eternal Golf Outing Chairman” Patrick Moriarty and his faithful chairperson’s.  Pat always manages to pull out all of the stops for the event to ensure a fun filled day is enjoyed by all.  The weather was good, the familiar faces we see year after year create a wonderful atmosphere, the libation carts kept everyone’s thirsts quenched and a delicious dinner and room full of fabulous raffle prizes was enjoyed by all at the days end.  I am sure next years outing will be a sell-out again, so get your foursomes together early and as soon as a date is announced for 2011 you can mark your calendar for the Best Golf Outing of the summer. And as always, the Golf Outing is consistently is the most successful event of the year for the organization. Thank you Patrick & Company!!!!!

Annual Family Picnic

The morning started off on a rather wet note, but the sun broke through and before we knew it the beer truck was pouring ice cold refreshments. The grills manned by Tom Cody, Dominic Kearns, Marty Quill, Mike Flannery were cooking up hot dogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob for all and the rest of the support staff had another Emerald Society Family picnic well under way. Our Entertainment Coordinator Kathie Flannery made sure all of the children in attendance participated in some great games and went home with a wonderful prize! The adult games had some willing and some not so willing participants, but all were good sports and Mike S. and Ryan J. looked great dressed up in those prom dresses!!! We will make sure to have all of the latest fashions for next year’s runway show guys!

All in all, it was a good day and the picnic chairperson Megan Lyons and Company did an outstanding job organizing another memorable Emerald Society picnic.

35th Anniversary License Plates

The 35th Anniversary License Plate project Chaired by Kevin Myron and Jim McCarthy got off to a rather slow start, but again our faithful members/supporters came thru and we sold around 75 sets of commemorative license plates. There are still some plates remaining and they can now be sold on an individual plate basis only. We will have them available at all of our meetings/events for purchase or you can contact our secretary Jim McCarthy to purchase the license plate. Call Jim at (847) 336-6966. It is a huge undertaking with the Secretary of State to get this project up and running and Kevin and Jim worked together to see that the Emerald Society had beautiful license plates for all to display to celebrate our 35th Year as the Emerald Society of Illinois!!

35th Anniversary Dinner Dance & Awards Night

The evening of September 24th was a beautiful late summer night and Gaelic Park in Oak Forest, IL, rolled out the “green carpet” to the Emerald Society and its guest’s. The bar service was more than sufficient, the food was outstanding and the room built by “Irish talent” beautiful. The highlight of the evening was provided by our own Pipes and Drums of the Emerald Society/Chicago Police Department, who piped in the evening’s Honorees and the 2010 Emerald Society Board Members. They then delighted our guests with a show stopping performance. And let me say again, they are a world class group of performers that spend countless hours of their own time to practice, travel to a myriad of functions, warm the hearts of all and we are so proud to have them as a part of this organization!

We enjoyed the company of well over 300 people, which included many of our Past Emerald Society Presidents and Board of Directors, representation from all of our Ethnic Organizations, Martin Ruaine, the Irish Counsel General, a group of Irishmen & women that were again here to participate in the Route 66 Motorcycle Ride to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Dublin, Ireland and many other distinguished guests of honor, including past Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline and his lovely wife. Our 2010 Irish Man of the Year, the Honorable John Griffin delighted the crowd with his humor, and a standing ovation was given to our 2010 Irish Police Officers of the Year, Scott McKenna, CPD, Daniel O’Toole, CPD, Mike Hynes, CPD & Mike Borkowski, CPD, along with the recipient of this years President’s Award, our own most recent Past President, Patrick J. Moriarty, Cook County Sheriff’s Police. Congratulations to all of our Honoree’s.

The creativity and generosity of the Emerald Society Board members allowed us to conduct a very successful Gift Basket Raffle as each Board member created and donated a gift basket or in some cases two (and one was more creative than the next!) for our fantastic Raffle Tables. A very large group of our guests went home with carloads of goody baskets.
We were wowed by the talents of Gaelic Parks own “Cross Keys School of Irish Dance” children’s troupe and the unmistakable sound of the Emerald Society’s exclusive performer (and favorite) Barry “Fin Barr” Fagan and his talented group of musicians. Our guests danced and sang the night away with Fin Barr and Company. The last of our guests finished the evening in Gaelic Parks Carrig Pub and no one went away hungry or thirsty! It was a true 35th Anniversary Celebration in Emerald Society style, fun, fun, fun! Just ask anyone who traveled very comfortably and very wisely I might ad on the Moriarty Family Bus. (Yes, they are like the Partridge family!!).

I would like to thank each and every Emerald Society member/supporter who purchased a ticket to the event, bought an ad in the program book or to the many who did both. Your support allows us to make the Emerald Society the most successful ethnic organization in Law Enforcement with-in the state of Illinois!

October Fest/Scholarship Night

October 4th was a great fall day, the FOP Hall is a great venue and we enjoyed great German delights provided by the talents of our own Past President & Chef Rick Toolis. Rick and his culinary assistants turned out sausages and bratwursts along with sauerkraut and red cabbage with all of the trimmings to our guests.

We awarded five scholarships to our eligible recipients. This year we have included the grandchildren of eligible Emerald Society members (must be a member in good standing for 4 consecutive years). The eligible children must be enrolled in kindergarten thru college level, and we have also included children attending public school.

We enjoyed the talents of Barry “Fin Barr” Fagan and our talented wait staff ensured the libations were cold and plentiful to wash down the hearty German fare. The commissary was busy as some savvy shoppers began their Christmas shopping early.

Notre Dame Bus Trip

On October 15th a group of 40 enthusiastic Emerald Society members boarded a very comfortable motor coach for an exciting day on the campus of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana to watch the Irish win the game they played against Western Michigan. Event Chairman Mike Shaughnessy had the order of the day well planned and a great time was had by all!!! We will do this trip again next year so watch for the save the date reminder.

Turkey Raffle

This years Turkey Raffle/Dinner will be held at Assumption Church on Monday, November 15th, at 7:00pm and Chef Toolis and his culinary assistants will again turn out a feast no one will soon forget.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (the best ever) gravy, corn and cranberries (which we always forget to put out) will be served to the delight of all. We will also raffle off gift certificates to Jewel for the purchase of your Thanksgiving Turkey. The Turkey Raffle Tickets you all should have received by now is what finances the yearly Scholarships we present each year to our eligible members. 

If you have not yet done so, please purchase the $20.00 worth of Raffle Tickets you received. Additional tickets will be available on Scholarship Night. You may also bring them to the Monday night Turkey Dinner meeting. We will have additional raffle tickets available that evening. We hope to see all of our members and their families at this wonderful traditional Emerald Society Dinner along with their family members. The Turkey Raffle/Dinner Chairman Tom Dudzik and co-chair Larry Benner will ensure a great evening is had by all in attendance.

Children’s Christmas Party

On Saturday, December 11th at noon, we will kick-off our Annual Emerald Society’s Children’s Christmas Party. A fun filled afternoon is in store for all in attendance. The Chairman of the event is Bob Shoup and Co-Chair is Kathie Flannery. Kathie will ensure each child will have as great time, make a craft or two and go home with a treasure filled goody bag. We will have a guest appearance by the chubby guy in the red suit (A.K.A. Santa Claus) and Sandy the Clown will make her balloon creations to the delight of the children and our talented magician will keep the kids and adults alike, spellbound! We ask that each child’s parents make sure to bring a wrapped gift costing no more than $20.00 with your child’s name and age attached to it in large letters/numbers, (without your child’s knowledge) so we can make sure every child in attendance receives a gift from Santa.

Hotdogs, chips, ice cream and beverages will be provided and the chefs usually whip up a pot of delicious chili for the grown-ups along with a few cold beverages. Long time Emerald Society member (and retired CPD Sgt.) “Engineer Kevin Barry” will be on hand with his awesome display of working trains for all to enjoy. (It’s a true favorite of the “big kids”) Thank you in advance Kevin. It’s a big job to haul all of the trains to the Church basement, set them up and turn around in 3 hours to take them down. But it just wouldn’t be an Emerald Society Christmas Party without the trains or Kevin and his family!

We will also have our Christmas Giving Tree. We ask that each family bring in some new winter hats, gloves, scarf’s, socks etc. to hang on the tree for children less fortunate than most. We will then see that the items go to the children need them most. The kids really enjoy decorating the tree with these items and helping out people in need.

We hope to see all of our members and their families at this most wonderful of afternoons. It is great Irish Family Tradition and the kids all have a blast.

Condolences

The entire Board of Directors would like to extend their deepest sympathy to any of our members and or family members that have lost loved ones this past year. We usually name each individual member, but inevitably someone gets left out. So, in an attempt to recognize each and every member or member’s family or loved one who has passed on, you are all in the thoughts and prayers of your Emerald Society family now and always.

Event Date Location/Time 

(LINK TO OUR ONLINE-CALENDAR of EVENTS)

Turkey Raffle/Dinner          November 15th, 2010    Assumption Church-7:00pm
Children’s Christmas Party  December 11th, 2010     Assumption Church-Noon
Chili Cook Off                    January 10th, 2011        TBA
Northside Meeting              February 7th, 2011         Irish American Heritage Center 7:00pm
St. Patrick’s Day Party       March 12th, 2011           Local 399 Hall