On Saturday night, November 21st the Tranquillity Alumni held
their 57th Annual Dinner Dance at the Glen Island Harbour Club. Over 100
Tranquillity-ites attended and helped raise money for the Alumni.
The evening started with a wonderful smorgasbord hour
overlooking the water and city lights. During
this hour many old friends reunited and newer Tranquillity-ites were quickly
assimilated to the family. Also
during this time many guests tok the time to bid on items in our silent auction.
Among the items that were eventually won were, a NY Mets Premium ticket
package which includes a Scoreboard greeting – won by Michael
Schwartz; a NBA Hall of Fame Basketball, autographed by Clyde Drexler –
won by
Mark Stein; a David Wright autographed Mets had – won by Scott
Forman; A night of babysitting by Dan
Flaxman and Nicole Kleinert – won by Bruce
Budkofsky; A VIP package from
Rock and Roll Hall of Famers AC/DC – won by the
Lindenman’s, and a Carlos Beltran autographed baseball – won by Marc Cohn. These are
just a few of the many wonderful prizes that were won by Tranquillity-ites and
help raise money for camp.
After some fine food and drinks, the party moved into the
ballroom which was beautifully decorated, though not as nice as Banquet at TY.
Marc Cohn led us in the Motzei and President Alan Abramson welcomed
everyone. After Harold Weinman thanked those who helped make the evening possible
and Richard Lerner led us in a toast
to Tranquillity, the party kicked into high gear.
There was dancing, and singing and plenty of raffle prizes.
Raffle tickets were sold over the Alumni Day weekend, as well as
the dinner dance with over 35 prizes being raffled off.
Two Grand
Prizes, 32” flat screen TV’s were won by Howie
Fiorella and Amy Abramson. Other
prizes included, digital camera’s, Stereo systems, hotel stays, vintage wine
and the Ultimate Prize a weekend at Tranquillity. Other winners, included Robin Diamond, Nicole Tsolakidis, Nicole Kleinert, Ira Altman, Sharon
Guglielmo, and Tracey Lerner Reina This year the weekend was won by Susan
and David Greene who can’t wait to be special guests for Alumni Day weekend.
They even get to come to the flagpole.
One of the
brightest parts of the dinner dance was a surprise presentation by Paul Cohen.
In October Paul held the first annual Jan Cohen Memorial Golf
Tournament.
One last highlight of the evening was the presentation of a
special award. Richard Lerner came
up to the podium and explained how at camp each session we have award night.
First he took an informal survey of all those who won the All-Around
Camper award, of which there were a few in the room.
He then asked how many in the room were “zipped”, of which there were
many. He then told everyone how
there is one award at Tranquillity that supersedes all others, Menuchah.
This award has been given to only a few through the years and is
currently only awarded to a special few that go above and beyond in their work
and dedication to Tranquillity. While
not given out every year, this year there was a very worthy recipient.
Someone who gives of his time, works hard and is always there to do
whatever is needed. This year
Menuchah was awarded to Glen Faber. 
This was just one of many highlights of the evening, and all
those who attended went home happy. (Not
just because of the Hot Soft pretzels that were given out as they left.)
In the end, a lot of money was raised for Tranquillity and everyone who
attended had a great time. We hope
that even more Tranquillity-ites will attend next year and to our other events
throughout the year.