2011 Annual Benefit
JOIN US TO CELEBRATE OUR 36TH ANNIVERSARY!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Four Seasons Hotel
2800 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
6:00 p.m. Reception - 7:00 p.m. Dinner
For more information or to receive an Invitation, contact Cynthia Pearson on 202-204-5022 or email cpearson@wendtcenter.org.
Click here to download Reply Card
New this year!
Attendees can register online.
It promises to be one of our most compelling evenings ever. We look forward to sharing this special occasion with you and Victoria Kennedy.
Keynote Speaker: Victoria Kennedy
Victoria Reggie Kennedy is an attorney and co-founder of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The EMK Institute, which will be located on the campus of UMass Boston, next door to the JFK Library, has been created to invigorate public discourse, encourage participatory democracy and inspire the next generation of citizens and leaders.
She has been named by UMass Boston as a Distinguished Professor and Mentor, where she will lecture on issues of the day, mentor students and represent the University to the community at large.
She holds a Presidential appointment to serve on the Board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and remains very involved in her community by serving on several other non-profit boards relating to the arts, education, faith, health and safety.
Mrs. Kennedy speaks to audiences around the country, inspiring and motivating them to be active participants in the life of the country and in their own lives. Having experienced the illness and death of her husband against a backdrop of unique public accomplishment, she will share with us her own insights and reflections on this most profoundly human experience.
Carol Pensky, Honoree
This year’s Benefit is being held in honor of Carol Pensky. Carol is a longtime Board member and leader at the Wendt Center and has played a critical role in its growth and development over the years.
For over 25 years, the staff and Board of the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing has benefitted from Carol’s consistent leadership and dynamic vision. She has served on the Board of Directors for 25 years and on our Advisory Board for 3 years. In addition, Carol has chaired or held a prominent leadership role on our annual Benefit committee since 1983. In doing so, she has galvanized a large community of friends and acquaintances in support of the Center’s work.
We are honored to have this very unique opportunity to pay tribute to our dearest friend and supporter, Carol Pensky, and hope you will join us for a very, very special evening.
Master of Ceremonies: Barbara Harrison
We are honored to have another member of the Wendt Center family, Barbara Harrison as our emcee, this year. She is a morning anchor at NBC4 and reports the weekly segment "Wednesday’s Child.” Her interest in child health led to her central role in a major station community outreach campaign that received local and national awards, including a special commendation from the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. She received the Ted Yates Award for outstanding community service. In addition, she has received several Emmy awards and other recognition for her work, including an award for a half-hour special she reported and produced, "The Healing of Kuwait."
To become a Leadership Sponsor
For more information, download the Leadership Fact Sheet and Pledge Form, call Ricarda Dowling (202-204-5010) or visit this site again soon.
Last Year's Annual Benefit
Click here to view the slideshow from the 35th Anniversary Benefit.Thank you to ...
Keynote Speaker: Barry Petersen
Barry Petersen, Emmy Award-winning CBS correspondent, is a veteran journalist who has reported on major world events (Tiananmen Square, the siege of Sarajevo, summits with Mikhail Gorbachev, Afghanistan, etc.) throughout a career spanning over 30 years. He currently reports for CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.
Mr. Petersen won an Emmy for his CBS Evening News series on Vietnamese orphans adopted by Americans in which he covered their first return visit to their homeland. He did the first network news report on the outbreak of the previously unknown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and won an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award and a George Foster Peabody Award as part of a CBS News team covering the uprising in Tiananmen Square.
Mr. Petersen is the author of the recently published book “Jan’s Story: Love lost to the long goodbye of Alzheimer’s”. In this book, he recounts the painful journey of loss he endured with his wife, Jan Chorlton, herself a well-known CBS News journalist, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in 2005. A moving account of a difficult and protracted kind of loss that is sadly becoming increasingly common, Mr. Petersen hands us a powerful and surprisingly uplifting story that culminates in a joyful, unorthodox, and profoundly human resolution.
Master of Ceremonies: David Gregory
David Gregory, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, was NBC News’ Chief White House Correspondent of the Bush presidency, reporting regularly on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Today, for NBC News’ 24-hour cable network MSNBC and on MSNBC.com. Gregory was host of Race for the White House and 1600 Pennsylvania the network’s Covina Avenue before being named host of Meet the Press in December 2008. Since joining NBC News in 1995, Gregory has covered nearly every major story for the network, from the O.J. Simpson trial to the trial of Timothy McVeigh, from the impeachment of President Clinton to the death of Pope John Paul II in Rome. He was named one of Washington’s 50 best and most influential journalists and, along with his colleagues, won an Emmy for coverage of President Reagan’s death and funeral.
