Memorial quilts found, day saved!

Games Cologne co-president Michael Lohaus, Valarie McCall, Mayor of Cologne Juergen Roters, FGG co-president Kurt Dahl, in front of the FGG memorial quilt

The Federation of Gay Games is an international organization, the governing body for an event that moves to a different city every four years. As such, getting all items needed for each edition of the Games from wherever they may be stored or displayed to the host city is always a bit of a headache.

Shipments to Gay Games VIII have particularly suffered from problems. The Dr Tom Waddell Trophy, for example, went on a trip from Chicago to New York, where a new shipping container was ordered, to Boston, to Southampton, to London, to Paris, and finally, to Cologne. It arrived in good condition, but other shipments were more problematic.

At each Gay Games a new memorial quilt is created, and the display of all the quilts, along with the Federation's own memorial quilt, is always an important event during the Gay Games week (see this edition's exhibition at the old Rathaus of Cologne in the Spanischer Bau near Heumarkt). Alas, a box containing five quilts, including two on exceptional loan to the FGG by the Names Project, disappeared. These priceless objects, part of our collective memory, risked being lost forever.

When this bad news was announced by Brent Nicholson Earle at the opening of the exhibition last Friday, City of Cleveland Chief of Government Affairs Valarie McCall, who's leading the Cleveland-Akron 2014 delegation to Gay Games VIII, immediately stepped out of the room and got on the phone to FedEx's government affairs department, where she forcefully communicated the importance of tracking this box that had been lost for more than two weeks.

Within an hour, FedEx (thanks Patricia) was on the phone with Brent, who described the contents of the box. In the video below, you'll see what happens...



Thanks to the folks at FedEx, and a bit round of applause for Valarie McCall!