Anniversary Wishes

For our 20th anniversary on April 22, 2013, we asked supporters what they would give the Untours Foundation, if it was their best friend. Here are their answers.

• The world’s most comfortable shoes, lightest and best binoculars, apps for all the info that Untourists find printed up when they arrive, and complete openness to all the serendipities of world travel. Happy birthday!
  ~ Margaret Lobenstine, Untourist, Foundation donor, author

 

• Sustainability and perpetuity. Live long and prosper Untours!
  ~ Steve Honeyman, In the Public Interest

 

• A ticket to your favorite opera.
  ~ Marcia Finisdore, Foundation board member
• A box of crayons. We are of all colors, bet we all live in the same box together.
  ~ Glenn Marshall, Untourist, Foundation donor

 

• One hundred more healthy years for Hal Taussig to enjoy the fruit of his labor and to watch the seeds that he sowed blossom! I know you asked for one gift, but I offer two. The next would be for God’s continued blessings on Hal, Norma, Untours and all of you who are working to further Hal’s vision and to make the world a better place.
  ~ Ed Tucker, Plasticoncentrates

 

• I’d give a big hug for helping me put my money where my mouth is, and taking the action that I love to talk about!
  ~ Lois Tandy, Untourist, Foundation donor

 

• A covered wagon, to honor both your pioneering work to serve the poor, and the Colorado rancher roots of the founders Hal and Norma Taussig.
  ~ Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder of B Lab

 

• My twentieth anniversary wish is that my best friends, Hal & Norma, would be awarded the MacArthur Foundation “genius” award.
  ~ Mary LeFever, Foundation board member

 

• A huge hug.
  ~ Elizabeth Van Dyke, Untourist, Foundation donor

 

• Money, of course! Cheers to 20!
  ~ Andrea Szyper, Co-Team Leader: Italian and Istanbul Untours

 

• A hand up to those genuinely in need; not a hand out.
  ~ Bob Miller, Untourist, Foundation donor
• One of its own chocolate bars. [Editor’s note: We sometimes send donors Divine Chocolate bars!]
  ~ Arlene Ross, Untourist, Foundation donor

 

• I would give my best friend caring, support, and guidance to grow!
  ~ Jon Blum, Foundation pro bono consultant

 

• What a cool idea! First of all, there’s no “If” involved about whether you are one of our best friends. My gift: I’d ask Bob Dylan to drop by your party and lead you all in singing “Forever Young” to yourselves, as a birthday song, before blowing out the candles and eating the cake. (I’ve attached the lyrics so you can practice.)
  ~ Chris Bell, SosteNica (home of the Foundation’s Charitable Remainder Trusts)

 

• One: A big hug. Two: A single piece of poster paper with a picture of Hal on it with everyone’s signature who has ever been involved with it. [Editor’s note: Ted offered to frame it, which he has done for us before complete with designing and lathing the frame himself!]
  ~ Ted LeBow, JRI Consulting, and Foundation pro bono consultant

 

• I am not fond of material gifts, so would take you out to Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, PA, and bring a picnic and a bottle of Prosecco. Cheers and happy 20th to the Foundation!
  ~ Cathrin Baumbach, Team Leader: Austria, Germany, Eastern Europe, Istanbul & Greece Untours

 

• I would give you an Untour to the Rhine in Germany, or the Alsace region of France, or anywhere in Switerland; and I would give you my heartfelt wishes for a loooong and successful future.