CapeAbilities, Inc., the company where trip organizer John Bangert works, and has been developing and promoting the ability for many Cape Codders to attend the Peoples' President Inauguration. Now over 200 plus people are heading down to Washington, D.C to attend. Here is Richard Maxim, one of the individuals whom we serve, is being fitted for his 'tux" for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama!
Barnstable HS senior, Mark Raymond was very instrumental in registering new voters, with Cape Cod Rocks the Vote this summer and fall.
Bernice Donaldson, Nauset Inc, and now CapeAbilities, Inc. Bangert's co-worker is attending representative of the longest employee of our organization. Mrs. Donaldson shows of her invitation.Cape Codders thrilled to attend inauguration
HYANNIS — A tuxedo jacket, slightly too large, hung loosely off Richard Maxim's shoulders as he stood for a fitting yesterday at Puritan Cape Cod on Main Street. The jacket sleeves wore a bit long, but the broad smile pinned across his face fit the ensemble perfectly.
Maxim, 57, a client at Cape Abilities, a disability service agency in Hyannis, needs the tuxedo next week for a very special date — with the next president of the United States.
Maxim, along with several friends and colleagues at Cape Abilities, has been invited to attend Tuesday's Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C. — one of several local groups and millions of people nationwide planning to take part in the festivities.
A group of high school students from Barnstable and Harwich has spent more than a year planning their weekend trip, and a train full of Cape Democrats is scheduled to arrive in Washington Monday morning. Dozens of other individuals and families across the Cape have plans to make the trip, but Maxim's group, which includes two Cape Abilities clients and several staff members, will have more access than most.
The group, invited by the Stafford Foundation, a Washington-based social service agency, is scheduled to attend a luncheon, featuring Martin Luther King III, and an Inaugural Ball Tuesday night — with a possible visit from the new president himself.
"I can't wait. I've never worn a tuxedo (before)" Maxim, a Cape Abilities client since 1997, said yesterday as he modeled the tux.
"I hope I get to meet (the president)," he said with a laugh. "He seems like a nice man."
Most Cape travelers aren't looking for an introduction — or even a decent view of the events.
(*) Neither the train travelers — a collection of nearly 90 artists, lawyers and construction workers, among others from around the Cape — nor the high school group, consisting of 43 students between the two schools, have official tickets to the inauguration. Instead, they plan join the millions of visitors at the Mall and along the parade route, hoping for a distant view of the president.
*Blog Editor's Note: Several members of our delegation do in fact, have the coveted PIC2009.org tickets for the platform on the steps of the Capital.
"I'm not expecting to see a lot," Mark Raymond, a Barnstable High School senior, said yesterday. "But that doesn't matter. We'll be there to witness history. ... We'll remember this forever."
Accommodations will vary. The Cape Abilities group has been invited to stay in a Marriott Hotel, blocks from the White House. The high school students will stay at a Sheraton hotel in Annapolis, Md. — about 30 miles from Washington. Some of the train travelers plan to stay on the floor of a community center near downtown Washington, and others will stay with friends and family in the area.
"We are staying in a house with 20 people we know and all the kids staying there are my friends," 9-year-old Abrianna Sigel of Orleans wrote in an e-mail. "I am going to wear red, white and blue. ... I can't wait."
While some Cape Codders are braving the crowd of millions to witness the historic event, some Washington-area residents are running in the other direction to avoid it.
Sue Meisinger, for instance, of Fairfax, Va., is planning to leave her home this weekend to travel to Orleans, where she will enjoy the inauguration on television from the quiet of her mother's home.
"All the bridges here will be shut down. I suspect it's not going to be pretty," Meisinger said of the Washington area. "Inaugurations are like the Super Bowl. Some people want to be there, others want to watch from a nice, warm couch."
For some, however, the inauguration isn't even the real event.
Two days before the ceremony, the high school group plans to attend the Inaugural concert, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Beyoncé and Stevie Wonder, among other artists, scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
"Queen Latifah, by far," Katie Holzman, a Barnstable High School junior, said with a laugh when asked what part of the trip she's most excited about. "I can't wait. ... It's going to be like a Presidential Woodstock."
| Yes they can (and will) | |
| Written by Heather Wysocki Publish Post | |||
| January 16, 2009 | |||
| Barnstable residents drive, rail and fly to historic Obama inauguration
For some, it’s the chance to take part in new experiences of an historic proportion; for others, the culmination of months of work stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors and waxing political to all who would listen. And for Diane Philos-Jensen, attending the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama next week is a return to the home she became disillusioned with years ago. Along with dozens of other Cape Codders, Philos-Jensen will return to her hometown of Washington, D.C. to celebrate the historic inauguration of the United States’ first African-American president. “It’s my hometown,” she said. “[But] I was very far away from politics before I started getting inspired by Obama… I had become pretty disillusioned.” The West Barnstable resident began campaigning in January 2008 for the then-senator and was so inspired by his call to service that she’s since signed up to volunteer at three Cape non-profits, including as a mentor for young students through Elder Services of Cape Cod & the Islands. “I’ve been very inspired… I think that’s a way that I can be of service, to do what we all need to do to help each other,” she said. Kate Singletary of Centerville, a regional coordinator for the Cape during the Obama campaign, was similarly moved. As part of her inauguration festivities, Singletary will join hundreds of Massachusetts residents in Obama’s National Day of Service in preparing care packages for overseas troops (to find a local organization to volunteer at on Jan. 19, visit www.usaservice.org). But Singletary is most excited about seeing a lifelong icon finally reach this post. Spending much of her life in Chicago, Ill., Singletary began following Obama’s political career long before his presidential bid. “In my life, it’s been a steady increase in excitement about what this individual may be able to do for our country,” she said. Paul Curley, also formerly of D.C. and now of West Barnstable, has attended previous inaugurations but expects this one to be “historic,” he said. “[Inaugurations I attended] were interesting, they were fun, but they were expected… As it turns out, being the first African-American president is one of the most exciting things that’s going to happen in our lifetimes.” Along with wife Bobbie, Curley will attend the inauguration alongside an expected four million non-ticketholders. “We don’t have tickets to sit, we don’t have tickets to the ball,” he said. “We’re just going down to experience history and be among the people.” Philos-Jensen, Singletary and Curley will take their own transportation, while a number of Barnstable residents will follow in Obama’s Whistle Stop Tour footsteps, along the Amtrak rails to Washington. The train, organized by Harwich peace activist John Bangert, will take Cape residents from Providence to Washington, where the majority will share floor space at Beacon House, a Unitarian Universalist community. Also heading to the inauguration is a group of 25 Barnstable High School students, who will accompany 18 students from Harwich High School. A trip to the Obama inauguration may be a journey of 500 miles, but for Cape Codders making the trek it’s a trip that brings them closer to the future they see for Obama, and for the country. “To see the growth of this extraordinary individual from a young age to the culmination of becoming the president of the United States is sort of like seeing his promise fulfilled,” Singletary said. “I’m excited. In capital letters, underlined.” Reporter Heather Wysocki will attend and cover the inauguration. She can be contacted at hmwysocki@yahoo.com. | |||
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