On December 18
, FAR celebrated the close of the year in its annual holiday fashion. Good food, great members, and a little competition with holiday games! And, as is also tradition, FAR selected a local charity to honor with a spotlight at the podium and an opportunity for FAR members to donate items in need. See below for highlights on the day!
Food
FAR members enjoyed the opportunity to mingle and dine with each other in the festive atmosphere.
Our holiday feast included:
Miso & Brown Sugar Salmon, Sweet & Sour Roasted Duck, and
Herb Chicken
Festive Rice Pilaf and Fried Asian Style Green Beans
Arugula, Grains, Corn & Tomato with Herb Vinaigrette
Mini-Delectables including petit-fours, fruit tarts, and more!
The venue was decked out in holiday decorations but the best decorations are always FAR members!
Music
This year FAR departed from the style of musical entertainment it has enjoyed the last few years and brought in a jazz band to bring us tidings of joy.
"MASFIK: Me and Some Friends I Know" is a DC-based jazz band consisting of a keyboardist, bassist, and drummer. Yesterday they brought along another friend, a saxophonist, and between the four, gave FAR a wonderful new sound to enjoy in the background.
Games and Door Prizes
It wouldn't be the FAR holiday luncheon without games! Mindy Saffer,
Cresa, and Susan Medick,
AAIA, brought the fun to the day with their activities. The first game was a slide of various holiday images. The tables competed as a team and had to remember how many images they saw after the slide was taken off the screen. The winning table was the one that remembered the most images. The second game, also played as a team, was a challenge to identify holiday movie quotes. Again, the winning table was the one that knew the most quotes. Each winning member of the team won a $10 Starbucks gift card.
In between the events of the day, Mindy and Susan called out the names of nonprofit attendees for the wonderful door prizes generously donated by our FAR Resource Members. Thank you to all of our members who donated a gift! Your contribution is a big part of what makes this event fun!
Charitable Giving
FAR chose
The McClendon Center to be our charity for this year and the Director of Development, Mike Shumann, gave our members an overview of what his organization does. The generosity of FAR members made The McClendon Center's "stocking" very full and I know Mike appreciated the donations.
Their mission is to prepare people recovering from mental illness to improve their quality of life. To learn more about
The McClendon Center, please click on their logo below.
