Pivot was the word of the year. And what a year it’s been…better yet, 14 months and two weeks. What began as a two week shut down turned into a global pandemic that continues today. From presenting RHS seniors the annual Dads’ Night Scholarship virtually to pushing the show to May, this was a year of recreating the wheel. We dove deep into the DN vault for videos from the past in the hope that we could share some sense of normal, if only for 8-10 minutes with 30 of your closest friends. Despite the changes we managed to get the softball game, mini golf, golf tournament, pitch night, and the Butta-Bowl in before shutting it down until we kicked-off show season in April.
When it became clear Covid wasn’t going away, Dads’ Night went to work supporting the community. Though we made donations to programs supporting Valley Hospital and frontline workers, we started hearing from the local, family-owned restaurants that were hurting. We considered pre-purchasing gift cards but we didn’t believe that would be very impactful and that is when the Dads’ Dollars program was born. We took the few dollars remaining in our budget and used it to subsidize a program that would ultimately pump $30,000 back into the community.
Aside from a whole new timeline, planning for DN77 took a number of twists and turns, but the one constant was there must be a show and the board was overwhelmingly supportive of the decision to move forward despite the obstacles. This year is about bringing the community together and giving the Somerville and Hawes families a safe and fun event to look forward to.
From the bandshell stage at Vets to an outdoor stage at Somerville and ultimately the Dads’ Night Palooza you will experience tonight, every stone was turned. Thank you to the Village, Dr. Sem, Dr. Oates-Santos and Dr. Gorman for your support of this year’s show. To Judy Russo, a special thank you for taking all of our “… so what would Dr. Gorman think about this” calls as we made our way to the ultimate show format.
So many guys to thank. The unwavering support from the board of directors and our cabinet was priceless. Through it all, never did we hear “no”. It was a yearlong chorus of what else can we do to help. Thank you to Dr. Iqbal and Jeff Gluck for your special contributions to Dads’ Night this year and McGrath & Ragains for weeks of Zoom calls to get the show format just right. Finally, thank you to the cabinet and all the dads who stepped up this year to lend a hand, make a donation or simply send an encouraging email. You have no idea how impactful the simplest of gestures were to us this year.
As Dads, husbands, coaches, volunteers and taxis, the time constrains of moving the show to May 21-22 are not lost on us. For that you all get a huge thank you!
And just like that… the show goes on. To say this year had been an excellent adventure is an understatement. Welcome New Dads’ and see you soon Grad Dads’.
To incoming DN78 Chairmen Brian and Steve, we have immense confidence in you to continue the amazing traditions of Dads’ Night and raise the bar yet again.
Eric & Matt
DN77 Co-Chairman Out!
