met with CEOs, ex-presidents and celebrities. He even met his idol, Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia.
He convinced an old college friend to come along and capture the interviews in videos. Soon after, he inspired two other people to take the journey with him turning the fourperson group into a traveling production team. Their motto became Eleanor Roosevelt’ s famous quote:“ Do what you can with what you have.” The team traveled for four years, conducted 200 interviews and shot 500 hours of footage with one camera. As a result, they made the award-winning documentary film The Journey and provided inspiration to thousands of people along the way.
Former ISPA Chairman Jean Kolb was back in action again emphasizing the importance of having up-to-theminute data to show how your business compares to the rest of the industry. She relies on the monthly ISPA Snapshot Surveys for the latest statistics and information from the ISPA community.“ I find that nothing strengthens an argument presented to management better than relevant and timely comparison numbers,” she said.
Deborah Szekely, founder of Rancho La Puerta and The Golden Door, accepted the 2010 ISPA Visionary Award. Her hopes for the next 20 years include championing disease prevention and working with legislators to educate the public that health is a personal and social responsibility. In her acceptance speech she said,“ We must practice what I call respect, responsibility and regeneration. By respecting and taking responsibility for the body, the regeneration will follow.”
Szekely presented the 2010 ISPA Alex Szekely Humanitarian Award( named in honor of her late son) to Wine to Water founder Doc Hendley. In his keynote address“ Digging for Hope: Turning Wine to Water and Other Modern Day Miracles,” he shared with the audience how doing one small thing can make a huge impact.
He described himself as a“ very average individual.” While
TUESDAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY:“ You cannot be a complete pessimist and be a member of ISPA. Look around you, everyone here wants to change lives for the better and dreams with me that we can turn this ship around.” – Deborah Szekely
BEST SURPRISE: The new resort / hotel and day spa supplements that accompany the ISPA 2010 U. S. Spa Industry Study were released.
EXPO MOMENT: The first full day of the Expo included an energy break, lunch on the floor and the opening of the Precor Experience Center, a place for attendees to go workout during the week.
ONLY ON TUESDAY: The closing of the ISPA Foundation’ s Silent Auction and the action at the Live Auction got attendees excited and raised more than $ 70,000.
bartending in 2003, he learned about the water crisis and was shocked that 1.1 billion people in the world don’ t have access to clean water. That same day, he decided to make a difference and dreamed up his first Wine to Water event which raised $ 6,000.
After teaming up with Samaritan’ s Purse, an organization that drills wells in under-developed countries, he headed to war-torn Darfur where he learned that women and children walk as much as five hours a day for water.“ Water was no longer a passion for me; it became the burden of my life,” he said of his experience in Darfur. To date, he has helped more than 50,000 people in nine countries gain access to clean water.
January / February 2011 ■ PULSE 35