Copy & slider photos by intern Andrew Dubbs
Photo credit: Neshan H. Naltchayan
“I am delighted to see my father’s vision come to fruition,” said Neil Bush at the Annual Points of Light Awards Dinner at the Italian Embassy that drew 300 prominent politicos, celebrities, corporate leaders and media personalities. “The award winners will impress you and inspire you. We are in for a fabulous evening.”
Neil Bush
It is the aim of Points of Light to connect volunteers with agencies and issues in need of help. As chairman, Bush put it this way: “It is to honor individuals and organizations whose extraordinary contributions have made their communities in the world better, safer, greener, healthier, and more equitable and more prosperous.”
Governor Chris Christie and Neil Bush
Those honored were Gary Oppenheimer, whose website AmpleHarvest.org connects home gardeners and growers with excess produce with food pantries; Citi cooperation, whose investments in volunteer programs in 2012 have served over 1.1 million people both domestically and internationally; Amy Paterson, co-founder of My Little Waiting Room®, one of the first volunteer-based drop-in care centers in a hospital setting; and Governor Chis Christie for his non-partisan Super Storm Sandy Relief.
Governor Chris Christie
“I’m here to accept the award on behalf of the volunteers in New Jersey,” said Christie, “both those who came from all over the world and the ones right in our state that left their homes to help others who’d lost theirs.”
Fox’s Griff Jenkins and Greta van Susteren
The emcees for the evening were Fox New’s Greta Van Susteren and Italian actress, Elisabetta Canalis.
Elisabetta Canalis
Special guests included American Idol singer Pia Toscano, Amy and Paul Berry, General George W. Casey, Jr., Deborah Roberts, Al Roker, H.E. The Ambassador of Japan and Mrs. Kenichiro Sasae.
Pia Toscano and Elisabetta Canalis
Those in attendance were inspired by the speeches of Neil Bush, Points of Light President Tracy Hoover, Garry Oppenheimer, Amy Paterson, and Governor Christie. Co-Host of the evening was H.E. The Ambassador of Italy and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero.
H.E. Claudio Bisogniero and Neil Bush
“If I could leave but one legacy to this country it would not not be in treaties signed or awards won, it would be in a return to the moral compass that must guide America through the next century. I’m talking about a respect for the goodness that makes this country great. A rekindling of that light from within to reveal America as it truly is, a country of millions of points of light.” Neil Bush quoting his father, President George Herbert Walker Bush
