America 1982-Chapter 247 - 83: The Belated Gift
The charity dinner hosted by the SSD Stanford University Chapter was held as scheduled at the Langting Garden Hotel in San Francisco.
Former Navy Operations Chief Thomas Hayward had not expected to receive so much attention after his retirement, becoming the focal point of the entire event.
The suit-clad attendees, nearly everyone, would come over to strike up a polite conversation with him and then subtly inquire about the cooperative projects between his Guardian Foundation, the Veterans Association, and the SSD, such as using technology to improve the living conditions of veterans.
Thomas swore that he only agreed to attend the charity dinner and help with the appearance because the SSD’s Stanford Chapter donated one hundred thousand dollars to his foundation. Of course, the speech was provided by SSD, and he just glanced over it. There were no issues, so he read it as it was.
As for how to use technology to improve the living conditions of veterans? How would he know? Perhaps they would turn them all into mechanical skeletons and let those people return to the battlefield?
In the end, he could only direct these people to the SSD, the organizers, to learn more about the technological details mentioned in his speech.
When a group of business representatives from various Silicon Valley companies asked Tommy Hawk, the person in charge of the SSD hosts, Tommy Hawk stood righteously before them, starting from the opportunity for this collaboration and eventually coming to the details of the technology orders. They realized that many World War II veterans were now frail and even suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, so the Veterans Association, the Guardian Foundation, and the SSD were looking to partner with technology companies to develop portable electronic devices, like bracelets or necklaces, to prevent those poor veterans from getting lost... 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Tommy Hawk didn’t even blink as he outlined these requirements. His serious expression made it absolutely impossible for those present to guess that this whole wearable device to prevent wandering was purely made up on-the-fly to trick them into buying tickets.
Even a few Silicon Valley hardware company representatives seriously considered whether such a hardware product could be realized.
That evening, exploiting those bookworms eager for orders, he managed to fundraise three hundred and ten thousand US dollars for the Veterans Association. Although it did not become the champion of SSD’s historical charity dinner fundraising rankings, it successfully broke into the top ten, placing eighth on the historical fundraising leaderboard.
This made former chairman Charles, who heard the news from Yale University, call in to scold Tommy Hawk for lacking fraternity loyalty. Charles had worked hard for Actor and now, after stepping down, Tommy Hawk finally came up with this gimmick to help the SSD’s Stanford Chapter, robbing him of the glory he could have enjoyed as chairman.
For this charity dinner, in addition to headquarters officials, representatives from seventeen university Chapters attended. However, aside from the major military academies, the rest were from other California Chapters helping to boost the crowd.
After the charity dinner, these Chapter presidents moved to a more private private club to dine and chat with Ian, Ted, Donald Rumsfeld, Thomas Hayward, Pete Wilson, Dick Cheney, and others. The main topics were about pharmaceutical companies and prescription drug plans for military personnel, in any case, subjects Tommy was uninterested in.
Dining with these big shots was of course a privilege for the SSD Chapter presidents. The SSD newbies, brought in to broaden their horizons, naturally didn’t have such an opportunity. But they didn’t come away empty-handed, as Tommy took Jason, Tony, and Dennis, leading a dozen or so newbies from the military academies to another nightclub for drinks.
The newbies from the military academies were familiar with Tommy and Jason, as these two, having graced the cover of the Fraternity’s internal magazine, had achieved financial freedom at a young age; many SSD brothers regarded them as the new icons of SSD in the business world.
And Tommy displayed all the virtues that a qualified SSD brother should have: he was hearty, generous, and gregarious. After a few drinks, he became fast friends with these dozen or so officer candidates.
When Tommy stood up once again, raised his glass, and everyone looked at him, he pointed to Tony and Dennis, who appeared somewhat alienated because they were not SSD members, and said to the dozen or so in front of him, "Do you know why they’re here? Anyone from West Point, stand up, stand up!"
Four SSD members from West Point stood up, looking puzzledly at Tommy, who pointed at Dennis, "That guy’s name is Dennis, and the first thing you’ll do when you advance from newbies to old birds is to teach him a lesson, because by then he’ll be reporting to West Point as a freshman. Do you get my meaning? He will be carrying my SSD internal recommendation letter when he reports, so think ahead for me now, how to make him wet himself during the freshman assessment period."
"Really?" The four newbies from West Point shook hands with Dennis. The leader smiled, "Nice to meet you, Dennis. We’ll take good care of you, as per Tommy’s orders."
After shaking hands with the four, Dennis scratched himself, "Wow, I can already feel your warmth."
The SSD members from other academies immediately burst into laughter, and the four from West Point stared at Dennis and flipped him off, "I’ve got my eye on you now, Dennis. You’re definitely going to show up in SSD, and I promise, by then you’ll feel more than just our warmth."
"Care for a few drinks?" Dennis grabbed a bottle of whiskey and said to the four, "Maybe I can show you my drinking capacity right here before I report, making me lose control of my bladder won’t be easy. But I guarantee, if you pass out before me, my stuff can help you have smoother bowel movements in the future."
