PRLA Restaurant & Lodging Matters Fall 2021

4 • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters • Fall 2021 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE I truly believe that hope is the fuel of the human engine. Hope coaxes us out of bed each morning with the notion that we can improve the future for ourselves and others. This faith in the future, our hope, was the driver of the extraordinary things we all did to get ourselves, our communities, and our businesses through the intense challenge of COVID-19. But hope has a steady partner in success—trust. Trust is the backbone that supports our hope making faithful notions more rational than they normally would seem to us. Through the last 21 months you have placed tremendous trust in us, the PRLA officers and leaders of your PRLA, and I’m here to say that we appreciate this more than words can express. Your trust instilled in us hope for improvement of our conditions and drove us to seek new solutions, new pathways to success, against the disorienting challenges of mandates, lockdowns, and disease. And in case you can’t see it, trust runs deep within the leadership of PRLA. In the crucible of COVID-19 we forged deeper understanding and appreciation for the special talents, ideas, and views that are contributed by individual team members. Not that trust was lacking in this organization before. Adversity simply brought gifts we may have taken for granted into clearer focus. So as members of the PRLA, you have many future successes to look forward to, in part due to the trust we share, and in addition, the quality and integrity of our team. With the installation of our 2022 Officers at the Annual Conference and Awards Gala in Pittsburgh, I am confident that I am leaving the Chairman’s position with an organization that is even improved beyond where I started. I thank you all for the trust and support you have offered me as Chairman. This has been a memorable and valuable experience for me. • With the installation of our 2022 Officers at the Annual Conference and Awards Gala in Pittsburgh, I am confident that I am leaving the Chairman’s position with an organization that is even improved beyond where I started. Bill Covaleski FOUNDER, VICTORY BREWING COMPANY DOWNINGTOWN