 Community Technology Center. And I'd like to welcome you all here this evening. I'm Lauren Glendavidian and I'm the Executive Director of CCTV, which runs a number of different projects, including Channel 17 and CCTV and the Community Tech Center. And there are a lot of us here from different parts of all the projects, which has been a really great thing for 1995. And we have, I think, moved tremendously forward in our service to the community. And none of it would be possible without all of us who are here, so I think we need a huge round of applause. We're having this little party, so feel free to have turkey and have pepper dip and have nachos and have cookies and have just everything so that we just eat all the food. OK, so we want to do. Very briefly, we'd like to recognize a few people who have helped us tremendously over the last year, particularly with the startup of the Community Technology Center. And two people who have worked with us all this year and are leaving are two of our main staff people, Brian O. Streich, who is the Project Coordinator of the Community Tech Center. Brian, could you come on up here please? And Robbie Holmes is the Outreach Coordinator of the Community Tech Center. And these two people have really done an enormous amount of work and in the large part are responsible for the fact that we have trained over 500 people in six months and have a volunteer base of at least 150 active people. And this is really grassroots organizers in the making and doing it. So we want to thank you both. And we've got a wonderful certificate to diplomat our technical director did. One for Brian. Thank you. Thank you. And one for Robbie. And we also have some gifts. Gifts? Gifts. We have, since Brian is going from the world of high technology to maple sugaring in the forests of Vermont, we are giving him a compass. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I'm not sure if you both might want to say a little something since you just might want to do that. Sure. Well, first of all, I'd like to, gosh, I'm accepting an Oscar right now or something. I'd like to thank, yes, my mother, of course. Thank you, Mom. Hi, Mom. No, I'd like to thank all my staff, my fellow staff, who have been really great. LG, the countless volunteers that I've had the opportunity of working with, because it has been really a tremendous year. And I look back on the year and I think of when I was just sitting next to LG, just LG and I over a year ago, I was the only one really working on the project except LG. Just working where Sournow works upstairs. And to see now what's happening, moving down here, painting the floors, building the furniture, sending my first fax, my first copier, my first copy. And I started to think, well, what can I do to repay LG, my supervisor? And it came to me that I should, I remember one time when you made the comment that the way you envision yourself with the project is the person out in front of the ship picking away at the ice, breaking the ice for the project. And I'm like, huh. I'm like, well, and you're also someone that has given their all, someone that your 12-hour days just has given their all to everything. So I bought LG and all that she can always look at. And sit out in front and chip away at the ice. Thank you, Brian. And I just focus always makes me a little uncomfortable. So I'd like Robbie maybe to say some words. Well, thank you very much. I guess I came across this project. I went to Trinity and I substituted hot. And I came across an outreach position with technology, which I just thought would be very exciting for me. And last night I was just talking with my husband, Adam, right there, how this has been the best experience and best decision I ever made was starting off doing this because I've learned so much. I'm putting together a video and I've just grown enormously in learning a whole lot from Dick about technology and from everybody on the outreach committee who's been very supportive. Maybe I'll just say their names right now when I'm up here. Robert Resnick from Fletcher Free Library over here. And Rob Riber, who is over yonder. Pat Nagy from Department of Employment Training who's been very helpful. She was there at my interview and spent here all along, which has been really great for me. Also, we have some new members. I'm not sure if they're here, but Hal Colson, Shoshana Simon, Vicki Zion, Helene Rondue with fellow Trinity mate of mine and Sharon Hopper. And then there's also so many other people who've done leafleting for us. Been really excellent. I do plan to continue on here. And that's going to be gone forever. I live in the Old North End, so this project has a lot to meaning to me. And I hope that we're going to get some grant funding so we can start some education technology. It's definitely a field of interest for me. And so I don't have a guess, but I'd like to use my Costco card tonight. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. I'm doing one. We shopped at the co-op too. We didn't spend all our money at Costco. We just have a couple of people that are going to come through. And so let's come on down. Come on down. Take the box. Switch up to that little audio cable. Great. OK. There was a party upstairs. Were you guys upstairs? Yeah. Well, you can take some cookies on your way out if you want. OK. We're going to do a couple of things. I'd like to recognize both Dick Lamott, who is the technical director of the Tech Center, and Rick Anderson, who is the training director of the Tech Center. And again, none of this work would be done without their phenomenal commitment. And Larry Plouf, who isn't here right now, was the training coordinator and our many interns and volunteers. So Rick is going to recognize some of our volunteers. And then after that, we're going to give out the Michael Tiberski Award in honor of our dear departed friend, Michael Tiberski, who was incredibly dedicated to this project. And in fact, the last time we saw him, he was making these incredible posters, which are in our office. So Rick, why don't you come up and recognize some of our faithful volunteers? One of the problems is when you've got a community-based project like this, it's very hard to recognize everybody that's having input. We've got a core of like 50 or 60 volunteer trainers and really want to recognize them all. But one thing for sure, without equipment, we don't get to put our classes on. Our LCD panel over there we own now thanks to Richard Parlotto, who got it for us. We bought it through him. And before that, Richard donated services for us. I really didn't count them up, but it must have been a good 30 or 40 classes where we got an LCD panel, became a projector, really state-of-the-art equipment. And we'd like to thank Richard for that generous contribution. We'd also like to thank the DET who do training with us and send students to us and take our students in their searches for jobs. And that means Pat Niggie and Joan Bishop. I thought I saw Joan here. And last, really, I just want to say to the training committee and the volunteer trainers that you're really great people. Without you, there's no tech center. Thanks. Well, I just want to say a few thanks also for people involved technically. John Hayes, I want to thank him a lot for his help as an input. I'd like to thank also Steve Weber. He's done a lot of great work for us down at the Champlain Senior Center. And Bill Karnstuhl, he's fantastic. I also got a little gift for everybody, this little certificate real quick. In a short amount of time that I've been here, and interacting with the staff and people around here, they kind of gave me an impression. So I got these little awards from me that I don't want to give to everybody. And I got one here for Robbie Holmes. She's busy as a bee for always being on the move. I got one here for Larry Pruf also, the Articulate Award for never being at a loss for words ever. I got the Always At Work Award for Rick Anderson, for seemingly always, he's always at work when he leaves and when I come back in the morning, the next day, he's here. And I got the I Have a Question Award to Bill Karnstuhl. They're always being able to take a minute, no matter what he's doing, to answer any questions that I have, no matter what. And I got the Quiet as a Mouse Award to Megan O'Rourke. Whenever I go upstairs, I never know if she's there because she's quiet as a mouse. OK. She's right there. I got my computer froze award to Oak. Every time she steps away from her computer, her computer senses that she's gone and freezes up all by itself. And I have the Smoother Slash Rummager Award. It goes to Brian Osserich. Always being able to smooth with anybody from the president to an old North Anne resident and the ability to rummage for a bargain all at the same time. And I have the My Computer Isn't Working Award to Sarah Smith. They're always seeming to have a sick computer. Let's see. Is Nat here? I have the Debase Isn't Working Award from Nat Air. He called me up for these once a week says, Debase is not working again. And lastly, I have the So That's Nice Butt Award to Lauren Glendavidia. We're always listening to ideas that are full of us, and then saying, well, that's nice. But that's all. And that's all. That's pretty funny. You get an indication of what it's like to work on this project. I'd like to just make a special mention. There's so many people here. And we could go through all their names. But I think we want to eat. So we're a little torn. But Billy Miles is here. And I'd just like to recognize her because she gave so much to the training committee and is a constant source of support. Heidi Brusso, who, Billy, come on up. We just are so happy that you've been able to work with us for so long. It's so important. Heidi Brusso, really the financial genius behind everything that we do here at CCTV and who works long hours above and beyond to make sure that all our books balance and that our cash flow is in keeping with what the spreadsheets say. Thank you very much. We're going to give out the Michael Tiberski Award now. And before we do that, I want to introduce, see if this is just hard because they're just everyone's here. But Peggy Lawers is the new project director for the Community Technology Center. And I'm not sure if everybody knows that. But we're very, very excited to have Peggy with us. And she's going to do a phenomenal job. I'd like to bring up the Michael Tiberski Award. Many of you know Michael Tiberski. And he died suddenly about two months ago, about a day after the Enterprise Community Parade. And I sort of feel a little responsible that we exhausted him so much. But he was just an absolute devotee of this project and of CCTV. And we had set up some classes. We had just sort of gotten the idea, well, we're teaching computer training classes. So why don't we do video training classes? Well, that only took us 12 years to figure out. But anyway, we set up these classes. And Michael had signed up for every single one of these classes. And there is his name, Tiberski, in like two months of classes that we've been looking at this tensiled name. And it's kind of haunting. But it gives you an indication that Michael came every day to CCTV and the tech center ready to do something great and get everybody excited. And his mind just raced and raced. And he was the most creative thinker and the most imaginative person and sometimes difficult to deal with. And we all are, but just one of the most committed, wonderful, energetic people. And so we felt it would be important on an annual basis to keep his memory alive and to recognize one or two people or a group of people who really personified Michael Tiberski and what he stood for and his real political commitment to alternative media and also making his community a better place. So this year, the first year, we'd like to offer this award to two people who have demonstrated enthusiasm, commitment to our mission and who has inspired others to participate in building a community in which no one is left out. And the two people this year that we feel very strongly are deserving of this award are Rob Ryber and Helene Rondeau. And if you could come on up, we'll go. And both Rob and Helene serve on the outreach committee but have really given above and beyond in many ways. And we can't thank you enough, but hope that this recognition is just a small token of how we feel about you and appreciate you. And congratulations. Just to say a little something. If you can't think of anything to say to smile. Okay, that's good. Okay, great. Anything they'd like to say before we break up, Roby? Yep. I just wanted to let everyone know that we have the Old North End Community Technology sent our t-shirts available. Rick's wearing one right now. But we have some for sale for about $12. They're 100% cotton. And we got them from only once graphics. So if you want to buy one, just see me and I'll set you up. Thanks. Great. Thank you very much. Have wonderful holidays and eat up all this food and actually, okay, something to say. See, it's just hard to extemporize. I have to roll this, which I'm not gonna read, but Channel 17, especially the live show, is really appreciative of all the volunteers. We have great volunteers, really committed, come every week. There's some nights where it's completely run by volunteers now, and some of you are here, Nina really dedicated to doing it. Dan Eisen, they really appreciate it. And I mean, this is a whole list of people that come in regularly and we couldn't do the live show without you, if you don't want to say. P.S. is, Eddie Vickford did not get an award this time. That's right, Eddie. You don't bear it because we're getting knocked one. But he probably will be the next Mayor of Burlington, so we'll just have to think that that's recognition enough for you, Ed. But thank you very much, just eat up all the food and have a great holiday and a great 1996, because next year at this time at our party, we will have even more people and more great things to report. So we're looking forward to that. Thanks a lot. Pretty funny. You like that all? I knew about it all day. Well, good.