48th Anniversary Dinner (2017)

In the Fall each year, Dignity/Los Angeles celebrates the anniversary of its founding in 1969, as the very first chapter of Dignity. In 2017, the Anniversary Dinner for this 48th anniversary was held at Marie Callender's Wilshire Restaurant, 5773 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, California, on October 14, 2017.

At the annual Anniversary Dinner, the chapter customarily awards a cash grant to one or more worthy causes in the community that are related to the chapter's mission. This year two grants were awarded, one to Los Angeles Catholic Worker and one to TransConnect (a program at The Wall Las Memorias Project).

Alexandria Addesso (shown in two photos below) accepted the award on behalf of L.A. Catholic Worker; and Angela Cristobal (shown in a photo below) accepted the the award on behalf of TransConnect.

The chapter Vice-President, Tim Roberts, took a leading role in organizing this Anniversary Dinner; and the chapter President, Michael Rademacher, served as the event emcee. They can be seen in some of the photos below.

Additional candid photos taken at the event appear below:

At the celebration, is shown the chapter President, Michael Rademacher, at
the left, and chapter member Patrick, seated at the right>

At the celebration, are seen Alexandria Addesso (at the right) who accepted
the chapter's award to L.A. Catholic Worker and Dirk (at the center), long-time
chapter member and chairperson of its Christian Service committee.

Above is Angela Cristobal, a CRCS Counselor at TransConnect who accepted
the chapter award to TransConnect.

At the celebration, are seen Fr. Charles Lavenia (at the right) and his guest
Gabriel (at the left), a long-time friend, dating back to school days together.

At the celebration, are seen long-time member and Past President, Liz Larsen
(at the left), and the representative of the Leadership Committee of the Los
Angeles Archdiocese Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons, David
Kennedy (at the right). Also, in the background at the left is long-time chap-
ter member and chapter Treasurer Keith Kimball.

At the celebration, is seen long-time chapter member, choir co-ordinator/pianist,
and Past President, Tom Giancoli.

At the celebration, long-time member and Liturgy chairperson, Jason Tveit (at
the left) and his friend (at the right), Isai.

At the celebration, former chapter member, Past President of the chapter, and
current member of Dignity San Diego (on the left), Al Kalian, and long-time
chapter member and chapter Treasurer (on the right), Keith Kimball.

At the celebration, are seen long-time chapter member and Past President (on
the right), Jim Maier, and his long-time partner (on the left), John.

At the celebration, are shown long-time chapter member (on the right), Julio,
and his long-time partner and chapter member (on the left), Jay.

At the celebration, is seen chapter member and chairperson of its Property
Liaison committee, Rev. Donna Owen. She is also celebrating the 16th an-
niversary of her ordination.

At the celebration, are seen long-time chapter member and Past President and
chairperson of its Spiritual Development committee (at the right), Kevin Steen,
and San Fernando chapter member (at the left), Christopher Cappiello

At the celebration, Alexandria Addesso accepts a cash award from the chapter
to Los Angeles Catholic Worker and gives to the gathering a thumb-nail sketch
of the storied history and ongoing work of the Catholic Worker movement. Seen
in the background is Susan Dietrich, one of her colleagues at the Los Angeles
Catholic Worker.

At the celebration, long-time chapter member (at the right), Dayne Navarro, ex-
plains something important to long-time chapter member and Past President and
chapter Vice-President (at the left), Timothy Roberts, who seems to be showing
some skepticism.

At the celebration, long-time chapter member Patrick (on the left) visits with
long-time member Jim (on right) who is visiting from Lompoc.

At the celebration, San Fernando Valley chapter members Julio (on the left)
and Chris (in the center) visit with long-time Dignity Los Angeles chapter mem-
ber Patrick (on the right).

At the celebration, are seen two Dignity San Fernando chapter members: Jim
Cummings (at the left) and his partner Tony Redman (at the right).

At the celebration, are seen two Dignity San Fernando Valley chapter members,
Roberto (on the left) and Margaret (on the right).

At the celebration, is seen Sergio a long-time member of Dignity San Fernando
Valley (seated), chatting it up with two former Dignity Los Angeles chapter mem-
bers visiting from Palm Springs: Michael (at the center) and Gabi (at the right).

At the celebration, are seen chapter President (at the left) Michael Rademacher,
with two former chapter members who are visiting from the Palm Springs area
for the celebration: Gabi (at the center) and Michael (at the right).

At the celebration, are seen long-time chapter member and chairperson of its
Christian Service committee (on the right), Dirk Farasey, and long-time chap-
ter member (on the left) now residing in Lompoc, Jim.

At the celebration, long-time chapter member, former chapter President, and its
Vice-President, Timothy Roberts, is shown presiding over an event management
desk, as the primary manager of the celebration. As you can see, he is equipped
with hand-out flyers for some upcoming events as well.

At the celebration, is seen long-time chapter member John Nangle, who also
serves as the chapter's webmaster to maintain its website, under a watchful
eye of his chapter contact for that purpose, namely Timothy Roberts, since
John has lived in Palm Springs for the last ten years or so.

Above is seen the cover page of the Program booklet for
the celebration.