By Felice Gelman
introduction
hos·pi·tal·i·ty
/ˌhäspəˈtalədē
noun
1. friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers…
When you roll up to LLI on a Friday morning, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, or you walk out of your third-period class thinking of nothing but lunch, a little bit of magic awaits you in the Olin third-floor hospitality room. Fruit, cheese, crackers, cake, cookies, coffee, tea, perhaps some yummy home-baked goods are all there for you, along with a chance to talk with friends and meet new people as you munch.
BEHIND THE MAGIC
Behind the magic are the genies of the Hospitality Team. Under the overall direction of Irene Esposito, who oversees event planning (catering, physical location, etc.) of all the LLI events, the Hospitality Room Team — Martha Nickels, Anne Sunners, Rosalie Rossi, Janet Junge, Marion Corbin, Larry Friedman, and Dorothy Baran — puts in a lot of unheralded effort to keep LLIers caffeinated and fed.
A Day in the life
Here’s a typical day for the Hospitality Room volunteers. Work begins on Thursday, when Martha shops for cheese, crackers, fruit, and some baked goods. (Have you ever wondered where your $2.00 contribution goes? It buys food for the next week.) Meanwhile, Rosalie picks up some flowers and stops by the Tivoli Bakery. By 7:00 a.m. on Friday, Martha and Anne have left home to ensure they arrive in time to set up the room. Irene often joins them. She has also made sure that Bard’s catering service is providing coffee and hot water for tea. Marion and Larry come a little later to help with the setup.
During the day, various members of the team monitor the table to replenish it and make sure everything looks attractive. At day’s end, Janet packs up any remaining nonperishables like crackers and cleans up the room.
you can pitch in
Besides expressing your appreciation to these volunteers, what can you do? Many people have contributed something delicious — homemade or store-bought — to the spread. If you wish, put your name down on the sign-up chart on the table that Dorothy has made. If you haven’t signed up, but have the urge to contribute, go ahead! It will be very welcome.
BEYOND THE HOSPITALITY ROOM
The work of the Hospitality Team goes well beyond the Hospitality Room. Under Irene Esposito’s direction, the team is responsible for planning food, space, and other arrangements for eight events during the year. The biggest, of course, are the fall luncheon and the annual meeting in the spring, but others include the fall and spring orientations for new members and class managers, the open Curriculum Team meeting, the annual presenters’ reception, the Seniors-to-Seniors Tea, and the Council workshop in the summer. Each event involves arranging space, tables, and seating, working out the menu with the catering service, and setting up the rooms.
creating community
Lucky for us, Irene Esposito loves feeding people. She has taken a number of cooking classes, joined a group cooking gourmet dinners at her church, and been involved for years in delivering food for people in need. She said, “This is event planning of the sort that I like. There was nobody willing to pick it up, but I enjoy it.” All the behind the scenes work helps create the community that makes LLI special for all of us.
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