Lebanon Day in Cleveland

The American Lebanese Community Council hosted an event to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the independence of Lebanon in the Rotunda of Cleveland City Hall. The special guest was Consul General of Lebanon Bilal Kabalan.

Pictures and video from Lebanon Day in Cleveland

The Lebanese folk dance group Ajyal performed.  Photos and video of Ajyal. 

Photos of attendees at Lebanon Day 

Deepavali - Diwali - in Cleveland

The Federation of India Community Associations (FICA) hosted Deepavali, The Festival of Lights, in the Rotunda of Cleveland City Hall on November 16, 2012.

The formal program featured  Ratanjit Sondhe who explained Sikhs and Sikhism to the diverse crowd.

The entertainment included a Manipuri Dance by Sanjib Bhattacharya (above) who is visiting from India and a modern Punjabi dance by a group of CWRU students called Spartan Bhangra. (below)

  See more from 2012 Diwali in Cleveland

Hospice of the Western Reserve

At some point in your life, if you haven't already, you will be involved with hospice.  Personally I don't know how the staff and volunteers handle their work and I give them all the credit in the world.

The Hospice of the Western Reserve has volunteer opportunities for all ages, interests and talents with an extraordinary love and a common bond of concern for others.
"I get so much more out of it than I give."
"This is the most important thing I have done in my life."

Direct Patient Care Opportunities:

• Provide Socialization, Comfort and Companionship,
• Legacy Work,
• Bereavement Calls,
• Music Access,
• Errands,
• Respite,
• Attorney,
• Notary,
• Veterans Serving Veterans,
• Licensed Hairdresser, Massotherapist,
• Pet Therapy,
• Transportation,
• Light Housekeeping,
• Teens,
• Spiritual Care

Support Opportunities:

• Clerical/Data Entry,
• Reception,
• Teens,
• Community Outreach,
• Speaker’s Bureau,
• Resale Shop,
• Flower Arranging,
• Group Helper,
• Volunteer Education,
• Fundraising,
• Special Events,
• Volunteer Marketing

Group Opportunities:
We are always appreciative of community volunteers who offer anything from a few hours to an entire day of service at our in patient facilities or our headquarters. There is a wide range of tasks including clerical, painting, cleaning, landscaping, entertainment and special meals at David Simpson Hospice House in Cleveland, Ames Family Hospice House in Westlake, as well as clerical and maintenance at our headquarters office in Cleveland.

Learn more about how you can volunteer for Hospice

Nacy Panzica Profile

Nacy Panzica was born in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town, in 1927. He had five sisters but was the only son of Anthony and Mary Panzica.

His birth name is Ignatius but he has been called Nacy all his life. "Now remember, it's not Nancy with an "N" - it's Nacy." The way he laughs when he says this you know he has clarified this many times through the years...

Official ClevelandSeniors.Com profile of Nacy Panzica.

Family is the cornerstone to this builder's success.

Medical Yatras helping the poor

The Association of Indian Physicians of Northern Ohio (AIPNO) was founded in 1983 as a non-profit organization of physicians of Indian origin in Northern Ohio. One of their projects is the Medical Yatra (trip) where teams of physicians and others go to remote areas where most people have never even seen a doctor.


To date AIPNO has helped more than 100,000 people in India and around the world in their health needs and provided FREE medicines, some surgeries and free numbered eye glasses, and lot of Cataract surgeries.

They have also assisted in disaster relief outside of India such as the Haiti earthquake (2010) and Hurricanes Katrina(2005) & Isadora (Mexico - 2002)

Learn more about the AIPNO Medical Yatras

Mother Teresa Statue

During her lifetime, Mother Teresa was named 18 times in the yearly Gallup's most admired man and woman poll as one of the ten women around the world that Americans admired most. In 1999, a poll of Americans ranked her first in Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. Members of the order must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and the fourth vow, to give "Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor".

She said, "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus."

On September 22, 2012 a 7' tall bronze statue of the Nobel Peace Prize winner was unveiled at a ceremony attended by Albanian President Bujar Nishani. 

See more of the Mother Teresa Statue in Cleveland

St Emeric reopens

With its church bells tolling its reopening at noon on Sunday, November 4th, nearly 600 people gathered to celebrate Mass at St. Emeric  Roman Catholic Church for the first time since its closing more than two years ago.

The Rev. Sandor Siklodi returned to the Hungarian  parish as its pastor after serving for 25 years as its spiritual leader.

More from the reopening of St Emeric Church

Is Flash still the best choice?

For many years, the best tool for elements such as interactive video, animation and 3D online was Flash.

Is that still the case?

The Great Lakes Geek sat down with two of the pros from Aztek to get the latest on Flash.

Dave Skorepa is Chief Creative Office and Matt Mesenger is Director of Web Marketing at Aztek Web Design in Cleveland and they live and breathe this stuff.

 As you will see, Dave in particular is not shy about his opinion. The 2 pros argue that HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery allow them to do almost all of Flash's functionality without the problems of Flash.

 

Leap of Reason by Mario Morino

The Great Lakes Geek just finished reading Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes In an Era of Scarcity

I have been a fan of Mario Morino and the way he thinks - and acts - for many years.

But this isn't really a science, tech or business book. It's written for non-profit organizations. So what's it doing on the Great Lakes Geek's shelves?

While geared toward non-profits, Leap of Reason has a lot of good ideas for any business - especially "in an era of scarcity."

And when you get a chance to learn from a success such as Mario Morino, you should take the time and check it out.

Leap of Reason book review

Prime Minister of Ireland in Cleveland

The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Mr. Enda Kenny was in Cleveland on October 12 and 13, 2012. It was the first ever visit of a sitting Irish Prime Minister to Cleveland.

ClevelandPeople.Com covered the historic visit with photos and videos from many of the weekend's event starting here. 

1) Taoiseach Enda Kenny at a special presentation of the City Club of Cleveland (Intercontinental Hotel on Cleveland Clinic Campus) on Friday, October 12, 2012.

 2) Taoiseach Enda Kenny at a private meeting at Cleveland City Hall with Mayor Jackson and other city officials.

 3) Irish Cultural Garden visit. Besides the main page, there are 6 more pages of photos of the hundreds of attendees in the Garden. Who do you recognize?

 4) The last public appearance of the Taoiseach was at the annual Mayo Ball where James C. Boland was named 2012 Mayo Person of the Year.