Chapter President's Message
November 16, 2007
Dear Fellow UNO Alumni,
If you have not yet visited our local alumni chapter’s web site, please do so at your earliest convenience. www.uno-dc.net
The site is managed by UNO alumni volunteers. I think you’ll like what you see. Should you have suggestions or comments about our chapter web site, please contact me at andiholston@comcast.com I’d love to hear from you.
Mark Your Calendars and Hold These Dates for upcoming UNO Alumni Events
Saturday, December 8, 2007 – Saturday Nite in N’Awlins Dinner
Sunday, January 27, 2008 – UNO Mardi Gras Brunch
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 – Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade
Saturday, May 3, 2008 – UNO Alumni Reunion Soirée (on campus in N.O.)
Saturday, May 10 or 17, 2008 – UNO Crawfish Boil (these are tentative dates)
Saturday, June 7, 2008 – Takoma Park Jazz Fest
Saturday Nite in N’Awlins
A number of years ago the UNO Alumni chapter hosted a series of popular “Saturday Nite in N’Awlins” dinners. We’ve decided to do it again. Mark your calendars and hold this date: Saturday, December 8, 2007, 7 o’clock. Kevin Scott (a very loyal UNO alumnus) is the Proprietor of the New Orleans Bistro Restaurant, and he will prepare a Special Catfish & Red Beans/Rice Dinner for us. The price will be $19.95: gumbo, catfish, red beans and rice, cornbread & biscuits, dessert, tea and coffee. Vegetarian dinners will be available, as well as a children’s menu. Tax, tips, and drinks from the bar are extra.
This will be a pre-holidays social gathering for UNO alums, their families and friends, and supporters of the University. This is not a formal business meeting, just socializing with fellow alumni and friends and a short presentation on the importance of helping UNO in its time of financial need through dues-paying memberships & gifts. The dinner is being organized by alumni chapter Vice President Ariane Richaud and chapter Treasurer Patricia Montegut. The Bistro is located at 4907 Cordell Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland. Please make reservations by calling 301-986-8833. You can reach Kevin Scott at cajunkev@neworleansbistro.org The restaurant web site provides directions and other information about the Bistro: www.neworleansbistro.com
Mardi Gras Brunch
Mark your calendars now for next year’s UNO Mardi Brunch at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Sunday January 27, 2008, 10 a.m. Details will be available next month. The annual Mardi Gras Brunch (now in its fifteenth year) is the signature event for our local UNO alumni, and it's free to alums. This past year’s annual UNO Mardi Gras Brunch on Sunday, February 11, 2007, at the Hilton was a huge success! About two hundred UNO alumni, their families (children, too) and guests enjoyed a wonderful brunch spread with appropriate libations, made possible by the UNO Alumni Association budget, as well as some generous contributions from local UNO alumni and corporate sponsors.
Number of UNO Alums in Washington Region Jumps Dramatically
Just two years ago, the number of University of New Orleans alumni in the greater Washington region was less than 400. Today that number is more than 1,200 according to the latest numbers given us by the UNO campus Alumni Office. Obviously this reflects the great post-Katrina exodus from New Orleans. So that the cost of mailings to the chapter membership can be held in check, we are putting more emphasis on upgrading our Chapter Web Site. So please check it from time to time for announcements and news.
UNO Needs All The Financial Help It Can Get
Our alma mater is truly in need of your support. Please help by making special gifts to the University and/or by joining the UNO International Alumni Association. Membership and dues information are enclosed with this letter.
Additionally, because we don’t have chapter dues or a bank account, the chapter officers pay for the chapter web site out of our own pockets. If you would like to help us, you could send a $5 donation (more if you wish) in the form of a check. I’ll acknowledge your contribution with a note on our chapter web site that it is underwritten by UNO alumni (named in the note). Hope you can help us. Send contributions to our chapter secretary: Roy Morgan, 6729 Newbold Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817. Thanks!
Let’s Have Dinner Together!
Please come out and join my family and me at the December 8 dinner at the New Orleans Bistro. Good Food, Good Times, and Good Folks!
Best wishes for the holidays,
Andi Guimont Holston
President, Washington Region UNO Alumni Chapter
P.S. Tune in Friday, December 7 to WPFW 89.3 FM from noon to one o’clock. I’ll be a guest on Fred Carter’s “Zydeco Trailride” show, and we’ll be talking about New Orleans neighborhoods and what it was like growing up in N.O. “Cowboy” Fred Carter is a very good friend of the UNO Alumni chapter here in town and has always been supportive of UNO and other Louisiana colleges, as well as the music and culture of South Louisiana.