By David Daggett on 4/27/2009 5:26 AM

The Best Of Life Is Yet To Be

       This past week our Lewis & Daggett team hosted Coach Bob Anastas as part of our Safe Sober Prom Night program. It was a privilege for us to travel with Coach Anastas across the Triad to make 12 presentations to high school students.

       Coach Anastas is quite a passionate personality. He is a professional motivational speaker and national founder of S.A.D.D. (Students Against Driving Drunk). In addition, as a hockey player and football player, he was an All-American athlete in two sports in college. He was drafted as a quarterback and a punter by the New England Patriots.

       He has been a teacher, coach and administrator. Coach Anastas has Masters and Doctorate degrees, and has won numerous awards including Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

      Anastas has addressed more than two million students in thousands of high schools and colleges throughout the country. A television movie dramatizing his life and his work with young people has been broadcast on both CBS and HBO.

      Coach Anastas knows that scaring young people with the physical and psychological effects of drugs and alcohol has not and does not work. Accordingly, Coach Anastas focuses on putting them on the right road to success. His presentations weave in humor, stories, and interaction with the audience.

     Coach Anastas shows students how to be successful by following four simple steps: Run when others walk; sleep when others party; take your weakness and make it your strength; and keep your body under control at all times.

      The message is very clear - "Your destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice," Anastas says. "You will choose where you are going."

      Thanks Coach Anastas for joining us for a week in the Triad! As the Coach says, "Choose wisely, for the best of life is yet to be!"

 

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By David Daggett on 3/30/2009 6:44 AM

A Featured Attraction

     Are you ready? A Featured Attraction is ready to begin! Prom season begins this week. We are all excited and ready for this special time of the year.

SSPN Commercial Shoot – West Forsyth High School

     This past week, we got a preview of "A Featured Attraction" with a group of students at West Forsyth High School. West Forsyth had the highest percentage of students take the Safe Sober Prom Night "Do It Right!" pledge out of all of our local high schools. In doing so, they won the opportunity to participate in this year’s Safe Sober Prom Night public service promotional TV advertisement.

     The West Forsyth students have great leadership with Principal Kurt Telford and faculty leader Ms. Sharon Hall. Ms. Hall and her students coordinated with the drama department for this extra curricular activity which really turned out to be a great experience for the students.

     A team from WXII TV turned the auditorium at the high school into a temporary film studio in order to shoot the spot. Mike Lewis and I had a great time with the students, and in the process they learned a bit of a lesson in actual film production.

     Our Lewis & Daggett team is always impressed with our local students. These students at West Forsyth High School were top-notch in all respects. We enjoyed the afternoon we spent with them, had a lot of fun, and are really excited about their future.

     This year’s SSPN TV ad should hit the airwaves in the next week or so. It will be posted at www.safeandsober.com. The website will also enable students to take the virtual pledge, contact friends, get prom tips, and keep up with all of the SSPN activities.

     Please join us in encouraging and supporting our students – they are off to a great start!

 

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By David Daggett on 3/23/2009 6:51 AM

SSPN T-Shirt Design Winner

      Last Friday we made a surprise presentation at Elkin High School of the 2009 Safe Sober Prom Night T-shirt design contest winner. The winning design which can be seen here will be featured on more than 15,000 T-shirts which will be distributed to high school students in our area as part of our Safe Sober Prom Night program.

      This year's winner is Mason Bovender from Elkin High School. Pictured above from left to right are art teacher Rita Minton, Mason Bovender, David Daggett from Lewis & Daggett, SRO Officer McMillan of Elkin High School, and Principal Mark Byrd.

      Prior to the classroom presentation, only Ms. Minton and Principal Byrd were aware that Mason was this year's winner. Principal Byrd arranged to have Mason's parents present for the presentation. Under the guise of making a guest presentation to the art students, our Lewis & Daggett team arrived in Ms. Minton's classroom supposedly to present a lecture on using art and graphic design in the business world. After Mason was called forward to participate in the presentation, it was a total surprise to Mason and the class that he was awarded the first place prize in the Safe Sober Prom Night T-shirt design contest.

      Ms. Minton was not surprised that one of her students won this year's competition. In fact, last fall at a preliminary Safe Sober Prom Night meeting she commented that her students would be competitive in this year's competition. Clearly, she inspires her students to participate in the community and to take advantage of opportunities to showcase their talents.

     An obviously proud Ms. Minton watched along with Mason's family as he was presented with the $500.00 check and a specially framed T-shirt commemorating his winning design. Our Lewis & Daggett team is impressed by the support and encouragement the teachers, faculty and administration give their students.

       This year Lewis & Daggett celebrates 19 years of working with students in the Safe Sober Prom Night program. Since founding the program, the efforts have become part of our firm culture. The next eight weeks are extremely busy for our Lewis & Daggett team as we visit and distribute the T-shirts at all of the local participating schools. This year our team will personally visit approximately 40 schools encouraging students with the "Do It Right!" pledge.

 

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By David Daggett on 3/9/2009 6:45 AM

Healthy Living

     This past weekend our Lewis & Daggett team participated in the Healthy Living Expo at the Winston-Salem Convention Center. This is an annual event in town that brings out a large cross section of folks from our community.

     Many thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth - we enjoyed seeing you and speaking with you. It seemed like we had one of the busiest and most popular booths at the whole expo. Members of our L & D team staffed the booth throughout the day, and we always had at least 7 or so of us working.

     From the photo above you can see that our L & D team had a good time, and engaged a number of attendees in the fun of the event. As you know from our Values and Culture, we enjoy this sort of interaction and it makes us feel like we are furthering our law firm mission.

     The event is a good opportunity for all of us to improve our teamwork outside the office. We are always favorably impressed at the commitment of our folks to events like this that are strictly voluntary in participation.

     The last several years we have also used the Healthy Living Expo as sort of a kick off for our Safe Sober Prom Night activities. Prom season is just around the corner so we try to start raising awareness within the community.

     Planning, teamwork, and friends made the Expo memorable and enjoyable. We enjoyed the time we spent together and the fun the we had sharing with the community what we all like to do here at the firm!

     Each year at the Expo we meet new friends, and rekindle old relationships. If you dropped by our booth, thank you! We were glad to see you!

 

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By David Daggett on 2/23/2009 9:56 AM

Embrace Our Students

      Students are always exciting to be around. At Lewis & Daggett we spend a lot of time working with youth in our community. Through our Safe Sober Prom Night program and other presentations throughout the year we spend a lot of time with young people.

      This past week we spoke to a group of students in the YMCA program. The Y does a great job developing and encouraging these young people. We talked with the after school group last year, and they invited us back to join them again.

     We made a presentation on Internet safety to these students. This is a topic we have spoken on a number of times over the past year to student, parent, church, and community groups. This topic seems very relevant and is very well received by the students.

     One thing that is always we clear to us is that students today strongly desire adult leadership. We are all looking for encouragement, support, direction, leadership, and love. As leaders, as business people, as church leaders, and as spouses and parents we have an inherent obligation to each do our small part to help these students along and ensure our future.

     There is one sure way to ensure the future of all the things that are important and valuable to us. Love other children as much we love our own. This is easy to say but certainly not always easy to do. When done, however, it is as moving of an experience as a human can experience.

      A common denominator of all successful people is that they have had at least one other person outside their own family take a special interest in them. Just one person who connects with them, cares about them, follows them, encourages and supports them. Sort of like good old fashioned mentoring. If we each have our personal mentor and our personal mentee, how can we help but succeed individually and collectively.

      This one-by-one relationship based success formula isn’t political, sectarian, agended, or divisive. It is simply being there to support, encourage and love. Anyone can do it, and everyone will receive it. Together we all can, and must, ensure our bright future.

      Embracing and encouraging students is part of our Lewis & Daggett culture. If you would like a presentation on Internet Safety, Student Success, Our Legal System, or Safe Sober, contact us at 1-866-299-1769, or e-mail at info@lewisdaggett.com.

 

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By David Daggett on 12/15/2008 6:57 AM

Three Questions

      This past Saturday morning our Lewis and Daggett team participated in the kickoff brunch for the 34^th Annual Frank Spencer Holiday Basketball Tournament featuring 12 local high school teams. Present were approximately 200 high school players, coaches, principals, administrators, and senior school system officials.

      We presented a talk with visual accents to encourage, challenge, and support the student athletes. Jeff Battle, Associate Head Basketball Coach of the 11^th Ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacon Basketball Team, gave a motivational talk. Coach Battle is a kind, passionate, and intense man with a likeable demeanor.

      Coach Battle presented three questions which when put together add up to "Do I want to play with this guy." Those three questions seem appropriate for families, organizations, and even businesses, as well as basketball players and teams. Accordingly, we will briefly review Coach Battle’s three questions.

     Question No. 1: "Do you play hard?" Coach Battle stressed that there is no substitute for playing hard. He noted that we presently live in a "cool society" where it seems everyone wants to be "cool" and "chill." Coach Battle stressed that great performers check their coolness at the door and just play hard.

      Question No. 2: "Do you have a good attitude?" He emphasized that everyone has a good attitude when things are going well, but how do you react when things don’t go so good? What you do and how you respond is reflected in everything you do. He particularly emphasized body language and how that body language can have either a positive or negative effect on those around you. He emphasized the importance of only worrying about being good. Don’t worry about things that can’t make you better.

      Question No. 3: "Are you unselfish?" Coach Battle stressed that unselfish players make the team better, as well making the individual better at the same time. His words reminded me of a quote from the famous and successful longtime UCLA Coach John Wooden, "When you score, give the other guy credit."

      Play hard, have a good attitude and be unselfish. Coach Battle’s words were simple, memorable, and can help us all improve personally and collectively.

 

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By David Daggett on 12/8/2008 7:53 AM

Heart of the Triad

     The financial markets are down, unemployment is up, and the economic forecasts for the upcoming months are bleak. However, locally we have a bright ray of sunshine. According to some recent national statistics and reports the Triad area ranks No. 2 in the nation in per person charitable giving.

     Last week Chuck Harmon of the Second Harvest Food Bank was a guest speaker in our office. Our entire Lewis & Daggett team decided unanimously to support the Second Harvest Food Bank at this holiday time. We are so proud of our team members, and their concern for others.

     Reverend Harmon gave a very moving report depicting the need during this particularly difficult time. However, citing the charitable giving in our community, and the hope it provides, he described the "Heart of the Triad."

     We recently discussed our community’s high level of support for one another regarding the Parkinson’s event. This high level of community participation in charitable and special cause giving and donations gives us all hope. This hope is the belief we have in one another, and the overall goodness and long-term welfare for our community.

     At our firm, we are proud that people want to give back to others in need. We have previously discussed that this sort of attitude is simply part of our firm’s values and culture. We are proud that our team takes pride in our community as a whole, and is willing to step forward to be part of the solution during difficult times.

As Reverend Harmon noted, during difficult times people don’t look to the government. Although we hear a lot about the financial "bailout," here the bailout comes from individual members of our community who continue to care for one another.

     The "heart of the Triad" is actually the hearts of individuals pulling together to help their neighbors through difficult times. In the Triad we know that our heart is in the right place, and that heart assures us that we will pull through the difficult times, together.

 

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By David Daggett on 12/1/2008 6:57 AM

Every Penny Counts

     We were impressed by the success of the Special Parkinson’s Event held a couple of weeks ago at the A Touch of Class beauty salon in King. Our Lewis & Daggett team was proud to be a small part of the effort, and we had a lot of fun too!   

Every Penny Counts

     Tonya Wood and her team at A Touch of Class rolled out the red carpet to all customers who came to participate in the event. All receipts for the day were donated to Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research. Additional donations were received from members of the community.

     We were proud of the turnout for the event. Moreover, we were impressed by the good spirit and all the fun everyone had. New friends were made. We have posted some photos from the event here.

     As off last week the event had raised $3,385, and donations are still coming in. Our L & D Team gave out specially designed T-shirts and stadium cups. There was a drawing for prizes including a number of prizes donated by Team Fox. The grand prize was a book personally signed by actor and Parkinson’s activist Michael J. Fox.

     During these difficult economic times it is amazing how our community continues to pull together. Many charities and public service causes are having their resources stressed, which makes these local grass roots efforts more important than ever. We all need to pull together for special causes and for those less fortunate

     Many thanks to all the folks in our community who help and contribute to the lives of others during this holiday season. Additional thanks to WXII TV 12, King Lawn and Garden, Ad Color, and WSJS Radio for their help. This community spirit really is what makes our Triad area special.

     Remember, Every Penny Counts!

 

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By David Daggett on 11/10/2008 7:52 AM

Post Election Hope And Promise

     Election day has now come and gone. We have all read all of the articles, and continue with our daily activities. Perhaps now is a good time to look at some lessons learned and look to the future with hope and promise.

      There are so many aspects to this past election that a complete treatise on the subject could be written. Let’s leave most of the opinions and analysis to the commentators and pundits. Instead, let’s focus briefly on a few seeds of thought and information that are lessons for us all.

      Participation – Last week’s elections set records for the highest amount of participation in history. This means the important right to vote is still valuable to our citizens. Further, it means that we all took an interest, listened to the issues, and were engaged in the process. Continued participation in our system will make our government even better in the future.

     Reconciliation - This season was long and tough and, at times, even nasty. However, immediately following it seems that our leaders immediately started mending relationships and putting the past behind them. With the difficult times we have coming, this reconciliation is necessary for us to successfully move forward.

     Unity – Now that the election is over there seem to be areas of unity. The main topic on everyone’s mind seems to be the economy. An election can’t decree a change in the economy. We all have to become united, work together, and do our own little parts in order to get through these troubled times.

     Example – After all was said and done, John McCain, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all came forward with positive words, well wishes for one another, and messages of hope and promise for the future of our country.

     Hope and Promise - We have many present difficulties, and yet we are still the greatest nation on Earth, and have the richest history of preserved liberties and freedoms in the history of mankind. "O’ Beautiful for Spacious Skies" seem to be as true today as when it was written over a hundred years ago. The last verse is particularly fitting for our country today.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law.

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By David Daggett on 11/3/2008 6:54 AM

Our Valuable Right

~Please Vote~

     Election Day is this week. It seems like it has been a long campaign season, but one of the real positives is that it appears there are record turnouts in the number of people voting.

     The right to vote is one of the most important rights granted by our forefathers in the Constitution. The right to vote is so important that it is repeated in the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Further, our Supreme Court has recognized that the right to vote in a free and unimpaired fashion is a bedrock of our democracy.

     This political season has seen long, and at times more adversarial than we might like. However, at the same time it seems that people are more engaged in the process than ever before in our recent history. Predictions are for record turnouts. This high participation portends well for the future of our great nation.

     The right to vote is a patriotic duty that all of us are part of protecting now and for future generations. The right becomes a duty because if we don’t exercise that right, history has shown that rights can erode and ultimately be sacrificed. The right to vote is a unique hallmark of our free country so it is important for all of us to do our part in protecting that right.

     Voting also allows all of us to participate in the process. To truly participate, we need to be engaged. We need to study the issues and learn. This learning is part of our duty and perpetuates our ability to preserve our rights.

     Sometimes we take it for granted, and sometimes it sounds a bit corny, but we truly do live in a unique and great nation. When our forefathers founded the United States of America, it was a unique experience in the history of humankind. The right to vote is part of a fundamental difference that maintains and perpetuates the freedoms we all enjoy.

     Our Lewis & Daggett team encourages, in a non-partisan way, each individual to exercise their right to vote. Please be part of a process that helps maintain and preserve the liberties and freedoms we enjoy in this great country.

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