Hello friends,

Our first meeting of 2011 was held on Tuesday, Feb. 8th at Barcelona's
restaurant in Garfield. We had a respectable turnout, especially with
the night being so bitterly cold. Since I planned this meeting a few
months ago, I have now been informed that the VFW in Garfield is
actually remaining open so moving forward we will be meeting back
there.

The meeting started off with a welcome back to all from Cindi DeVivo.
Everyone present was still buzzing about the Christmas party in
December and all are looking forward to the 2011 party. In lieu of a
meeting in the month of May we are planning on an alumni picnic for
family and friends. It will be on a weekend so all can come and
enjoy. It will be open to your families, children,
grandchildren...... Location and Date TBD and as soon as the
information is available I will pass it along to all.

There was some discussion on continuing the meetings on a monthly
basis or changing to every other month, etc. but it was a unanimous
decision to keep the meetings at once a month. We will be going back
to Thursday evenings as the Alumni Corps will be practicing every
other Thursday so there should not be a conflict with attendance going
forward. It was also discussed that everyone present would email me
their ideas for an agenda for upcoming meetings and that offer goes
out to all of you. If there is something that you would like
discussed at a future meeting please email me and we can add it to the
list.

There were two special guests at this meeting.... Caryn Goebel and
Justin Heimbecker from the YEA! office. We thank them for making the
trip down especially for our alumni. Caryn talked about the 2011 Food
and Wine Fest to be held on Sunday, April 10th from 1-5 pm at Taos
Restaurant in East Rutherford. For details please go to the YEA
website. Justin handed out to each alumni present the corps' calendar
from May through finals in August. He gave us some background on all
the places that the corps will be traveling to this summer and he gave
us a short analysis of the 2011 show. He graciously took some
questions from the alumni and answered them with clarity and honesty.
It was a pleasure to have both Caryn and Justin at our meeting and we
look forward to a continued relationship between the office staff and
the alumni. One of the things that Justin mentioned during his talk
was how much the kids in the corps look up to and respect all of the
alumni. We all know it is mutual but to hear Justin tell us that just
solidified the history and the connection between the kids and the
older folks. Just as the kids are so important to us, we are just as
important to them. They love hearing our stories (although I'm sure
some of them are sick of hearing about the "Original Girls"!) as we
love hearing their stories. A common thread that runs through most of
the kids in the corps and what most inspired them to be a member of
this organizaton is the excellence, tradition and history of such a
magnificent establishment that we have all been so proud to have been
a part of. No one can ever take that away from any of us.

All present enjoyed their pizza and their socializing and we look
forward to some new faces and some old ones at our next meeting in
March. I will send out an email with the definitive date shortly.

I look forward to seeing each and every one of you at our next
meeting.... Until then...

FHNSAB

Cindi Carozza DeVivo

Alumni present:
Cindi DeVivo
Margee Gearhart
Jackie Colao
Beth McGarril
Marie DiDomenico
Jeff Males
Dave Shaw
George King
Jack Day
Fabian Izsa
Andy Swiderski
Peter Macaluso
Caryn Goebel
Justin Heimbecker
Vincent Roundaisi
Lawrence Ignauzak
Ken Shedosky
Doc Cinzio
Greg Cinzio
Paul DiLiberto
Bob Messineo
Joe Wegnzyniak
Rich Kozel

* If I spelled your name wrong it's because your handwriting is
illegible! :) I apologize to anyone whose name I did not decipher
correctly or to anyone who did not sign in and whose name is therefore
not captured on this list

Next Meeting March 3rd.

The VFW is still under construction and
I didn't want to take a chance and book it for our meeting.
Therefore, the Thursday, March 3rd meeting will be back at
Barcelona's at 7 p.m. We are going back to Thursdays as a majority of
people have expressed that night is better than the beginning of the
week.