PHOENIX DESERT EMPIRE REGIONAL AUGUST 9-15.

Room rates at the Paradise Valley DoubleTree Resort REDUCED to $71/night

For reservations call (800) 445-8667 or (480) 947-5400

see article below for details

Join The Hottest Players At The Coolest Regional!

Head to the prestigious AAA Four Diamond Award DoubleTree Resort in Scottsdale for the Desert Empire Regional Aug. 9-15. This is a change of venue from previous years for this popular summer tournament. The new facility offers AMPLE free parking with sleeping rooms and the room rates have been reduced to $71 per night!  This rate applies to all new bookings as well as to all existing bookings made through the hotel at the prior bridge rate.

You can make your room reservations today by calling (800) 445-8667 or (480) 947-5400.  This rate extends through July 18th so please make your reservations as soon as possible.

Be sure to ask for the new special bridge rate. You will enjoy seven days of solid bridge played against players from all over the Valley along with those who fly in for the event. Check out the Pro-Am Pairs game on Monday along with Senior and Open pair events, the ever popular Knockouts and our daily speakers.

Questions? Contact co-chairs Susan Kay Schultz at detailshm@cox.net or (480) 945-1490 or Linda Tucker at tuckita@me.com or (602) 300-1652. Alice Pierce is the Partnership Chair and can be reached at apierce7@cox.net or (480) 247-8380.

We hope to see you at the table in Scottsdale in August! Join The Hottest Players At The Coolest Regional!

Remembering Aileen Osofsky

     Although she was a New Yorker, the Valley bridge community this month is mourning the towering loss of Aileen Osofsky, a national bridge leader, who we consider one of our own as a Scottsdale winter visitor.

     Aileen, the chairman and for 25 years the guiding light of the ACBL’s National Goodwill Committee, died June 22 in New York after a brave battle with leukemia.   Earlier this year she had been inducted into ACBL’s Hall of Fame and was honored locally.

     Her son, Alan, wrote: “My ("our") mother passed away tonight. She was at peace surrounded by her family who loved her dearly. Her legacy will be the good work we all continue to do.  She would not want you to be sad but instead take that energy to celebrate life and all the things you have to be thankful for.  We will miss her, but her love will always be with us, which is good because there will never be another one like her.”

     Aileen a friend and partner to hundreds of Valley players has long been recognized by the ACBL for her skill in bringing civility and sportsmanship to the table through the Goodwill Committee.

     The ACBL recently wrote that ethics has taken a firmer hold in bridge “during her watch” citing her unswerving devotion to principle managing “to persuade even the toughest of cases.”

     In the spring of 2009 at the NABC in Houston she was awarded the coveted Blackwood Award  recognizing her work as the “Queen of Goodwill because she leads by example.”

     Further recognizing her contributions, the District 17 Board at its meeting earlier this month in Las Vegas formed for the first time a Goodwill Committee to recognize deserving players throughout the Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico district.   At the Desert Empire Regional in August, Unit 354 will mark her passing at a special Goodwill Day and hospitality reception Aug. 12.

     Information on funeral services were not immediately available but friends say her designated charity is Jewish Federation of Phoenix, 12701 N. Scottsdale Rd. #201, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.

Shuffle Deal & Play Could Get the Ax

          The age of e-mail, websites and electronic gadgetry may spell the end of Shuffle Deal & Play, the Unit’s long time newsletter, unless new talent is found over the summer or new ways  developed to reach the membership.   

          Veteran editor Jamie Rubenstein, who has edited the publication since 1994, and managing editor Barb Bunnell since 2008, are retiring and so the Unit 354 Board is considering alternatives.

          “It’s been a celebrated run for the Unit 354 newsletter and I’ve enjoyed being its ‘master’ all these years but I believe the new online age has made the printable Shuffle outmoded, obsolete and a waste of dues money,” said Jamie.      

           In days gone by, the only practical way to inform the membership about club/tournament activities/individual feats at the table, feature interviews and such by snail mail, said Jamie.   “Well, the computer, e-mail and websites have changed all that,” he added.   

          So the next issue due for distribution about July 15 may be the last unless some unit member volunteers to assume the editing task.    One alternative plan is to switch all the club/tournament news, hand analyses and interviews  to the website, www.unit354.com in a kind of “Shuffle Online.”  For that, the Unit 354 Board is seeking out a Webmaster who can produce and edit that flow of information.  

          The Unit 354 Board has said it would like to move forward toward electronic communication and is actively searching for the webmaster who will become the electronic link to all the members.  If you know anyone who might be interested in that job, please let Janet Newman, Unit 354 president, know at j2newman@cox.net.