Mr. Gardiner's Opus

Five years ago, Dave Gardiner asked me if I wanted to work on a campaign for the YMCA of the North Shore. The project was being run by Mr. Paul Gorman, a former elite male runner who could knock out marathons in the sub 2:30 range.

Under Dave's guidance, we created a campaign called "Y it's time." It was a grass roots effort that included a video, print ads, and a brochure.

While Mr. Gardiner's advertising work has been honored by every award in the industry, including seven One Show Pencils, two Hatch Best of Shows, around 50 Hatch bowls, a complete set of Cannes Lions, two Mercury awards for radio spots he co-wrote of all things, a Caple's award for direct mail (God bless him), a complete set of Athenas, a Kinsale Shark from the Old Country, an Effie or two, the campaign to build a new YMCA on the North Shore may be his most significant work yet, for the very simple reason that the results of the campaign shall still be standing long after we have left this life for the next.

He also made a substantial gift to the cause. If you know Dave, please congratulate him on his accomplishment by writing to him at DGardiner@hhcc.com Make sure you spell his name with the "i" in the middle of it, as there's a Dan Gardner at work who frequently receives his mail.

Hope you and yours have a great Thanksgiving. There are a lot of things in this world for which we should be thankful: good friends, good health, family, and Labrador retrievers are right at the top of the list.