TEBALA NOBLE REVISITS SHC – CHICAGO, WHERE HE HAS A LEGACY

Tebala Noble W. Bill Hecht returned to SHC – Chicago recently, bringing a new patient from Rockford, IL, his 14^{th sponsored patient with us. Several years ago, Noble Bill was honored on our Philanthropic Society Wall, when he made a major gift to the hospital honoring Julia and Wilbert Hecht, his mother and father. In the photo, left, Noble Bill greets Yours Truly, who is pointing to the plaque honoring Bill’s parents. Fellow Tebala Noble Bob Saxer, Bill’s driver for}

the day, poses with us. We are honored by Noble Bill’s presence in our midst. He was an Illinois State Trooper for many years in his younger days. He was, then, the best friend children had in the Rockford area. For years, he scheduled buses to bring hundreds of children to the Shrine circus and sponsored many children at our hospital. In 1961, he took 250 kids to the Tebala circus. By 1973, he was taking 1,236 kids. What a legacy! In the photo, right, taken in the 1960s, he poses with Norm Conlon, Gracie Jackson, Brad Jackson, and Bill Conlon. Norm and Bill of Conlon & Conlon Ford, Crystal Lake, IL, paid for the buses that brought children to our circus. Young Brad, in a wheel chair, was a spina bifida patient here at the time of the photo. The greatness of SHC in North America is directly

DONOR RELATIONS DIRECTORS TO GATHER FOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE

For the sixth consecutive year DR Directors, both Temple and Imperial, from our six-state service area, will gather at SHC – Chicago on March 19 for an important DR conference. This year’s conference will focus on what we have called, “Development – Empowering People.” The idea behind this theme is that the function of fundraising in every not-for-profit organization is to provide the motive power of the organization to serve people. Without adequate funds developed through our fundraising efforts, our organizations will die. Development professionals, thus, are in place to empower people—staff, patients, DR Directors, and our whole community—so that, together, we can serve children as we have been doing since 1922. Guests at this year’s conference, will include Marlena Lagina-Kleine, VP of Communications, Development, and PR, Tampa, Ben Prewitt, Corporate Director of Development, Tampa, and Mark Thoreson, Director of Development, SHC – Portland. In addition, Jim Cohick, Administrator, Dr. Gerald Harris, Director of the Motion Analysis Lab, Sahar Hassani, Director of Research, Sara Klaas, Associate Director of Development, and Yours Truly will participate from SHC – Chicago. With the major changes coming to Development in our hospital system, this is the most important DR Conference in the past six years. We expect to have all DR Directors present and representatives from all 14 Shrine Temples in our area. This conference is underwritten by a grant from an anonymous Chicago foundation, for which we’re grateful.