OPFFA Convention in Collingwood

6-10-08 -- Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association.

What an honor.  To be asked to speak and present the HeroToHero.US Troop Morale Campaign to the OPFFA Convention in Collingwood at the Blue Mountain Resort.

Now, we'd been doing a lot of speeches since arriving in Canada, and were very aware that the last thing they would be in the mood for at the end of a long day, was a long speech.
  So we wanted to come in lighthearted and see if we could spark some laughs from them.  And so it was that we decided to retrieve an old Ranger tradition.  The idea is that the speakers must place their hand in ice water as they begin addressing the audience.  They are allowed to speak only as long as they can bear the cold.  Cuts down on speech time, and brings laughter to the room.  Gotta love those creative troops!

So we decided to give it a try.  How hard could it be anyway?  Well, let me tell you!  That's COLD!!!  In fact, this might be the appropriate place to insert an apology for anyone I might have offended.  I am an Irish sailor's daughter, and I have no idea what came out of my mouth after the "Holy ___!!!"  See, the great staff at Blue Mountain were all too willing to help us out.  They came up with a bucket and added lots of ice to the water.  But then we had to wait a while, and being the efficient team they are, they announced happily that they had added more ice for us shortly before we went on.  Ummm, thanks?

President of the OPFFA Fred LeBlanc was most welcoming, introducing the team and sharing the stage with us. 

All eyes were on us trying to figure out the bucket.  So we explained.  There was some laughter, my hand went in, there was an instantaneous shock, the quick utterance of whatever I said, and then more laughter.  Guess we hit our mark.  But jeez, that was cold!  Best of all was that Kevin had to do the same thing.  No wait,best of all was hearing later that the guys wanted to put it to a vote to have Fred and all of their speakers do the same in the future.  (We want pictures!)

The room was filled and we were most impressed that they seemed very focused and taking in all we said.  We knew that they had been asked to bring a shirt with each member, but we'd seen that request before.

As I spoke I was actually distracted at one point when I realized that every table had shirts on them.  Guys were writing their messages as we spoke.  It was tough not to tear up, seeing so many of our heroes who really "got it".  We salute you, each and every one!  What an amazing turn out!

Another moment that filled our throats with big lumps was when Larry Kaibetoney was introduced as our Combat-Wounded Purple  Heart member.  The room erupted into a loud standing ovation, the likes of which we had not experienced over our five years.  Larry's eyes filled with tears and his chest with pride as the applause just kept going.  Again, no doubt that the men & women in this room "got it".

Keeping with one of our time honored traditions, we pulled a lucky someone out of the the crows for the shirt off my back shot.  We decided to have our buddy Dave Hanley come up to show how it's done.  Talk about a great sport.  We always want it understood that we don't care about your love handles, fur coats, or kegs ... This is to show your heart -- And Dave did exactly that.  Even more special was the message he wrote on the shirt he donated.  Dave survived cancer and wanted to make sure that the recipient of his shirt knew that you can all overcome obstacles ...

We finished the presentation and began taking some time to meet and greet as many people as possible.  They didthe obligatory BadAss shots for us ... And looked good doing it, too!

While we were there, there was campaigning happening for one of the upcoming vote positions.  We don't get involved  in politics in any way, but yes, we did have fun in both hospitality suites.  From where we stand, as far as who will or should win the election?  That would be the one that you all vote for -- They BOTH seemed very nice, and had a lot of support.  So basically, it's all good!

We honored Rayanne for her part in arranging this vist by presenting her with our official Jensen Lee Team Canada bag.  (And yes, you will be able to get both the Team Canada & Team America bags in the near future -- Thank you Jensen Lee!)  *These are the official bags of HeroToHer.US, and they come in every size from a mini-duffle, all the way up to a bunker bag.  A lot of the Honor Guard teams, including Tacoma Fire HG, have been using these along with us for several years now.  We travel with them every tour, and they hold up great!

We want to thank everyone involved in having us at the convention. 

A very special thanks to Adele & all involved in getting us our room for the night.  It was perfect, and we appreciate your generosity so much.  We would also re-visit the Blue Mountain Resort, what a beautiful locale.

We got to meet some really good folks, with outstanding hearts.  We hope to stay in touch, and perhaps visit them again in the future.



Remember, we will do this every year til they all come home.  So keep those shirts coming!  And be sure to let your American counterparts know that they need to get Pledged up this year!

Thanks Fred, Rayanne, Adele, Paul, and everyone involved in our great trip to the OPFFA Convention 2008!

lj

Tags: OPFFA, OPFFA CONVENTION, OPFFA PRESIDENT FRED LeBLANC, BLUE MOUNTAIN RESORT, COLLINGWOOD,