About Us

A Celebration of Friends

MISSION STATEMENT

A Celebration of Friends, Inc. mission is to provide warm, comfortable, safe and engaging gatherings recognizing and promoting self-worth, dignity, kindness and friendships of and within our senior population. To that end, we strive not only to host celebrations of our seniors, but family type reunions of our friends and brothers through supportive connections within our nationwide and international scope.

All-Volunteer Organization

Over the past 15 years A Celebration of Friends has donated over $210,000 to local charities. We are an all-volunteer organization receiving no federal funding or grants.

A Celebration of Friends

Our Team

A Celebration of Friends

Tom (Tomcat) Pence

Founder and President of A Celebration Of Friends, Inc.

A Celebration of Friends, Inc. was founded by Tom Pence, a former U.S. Marine, who realized early on that "Maturity Matters" in this youth-oriented gay world and that there was a need for seniors to be celebrated.
The first Celebration was held in 2002 in New Orleans, LA. Over next 20 years, ACOF has hosted yearly Celebrations in Ft. Lauderdale, FL., Miami Beach, FL., Orlando, FL. Palm Springs, CA. and has had many distinguished guests, such as actor Ed Asner and former U.S, Congressman Barney Frank. Our next Celebration will be held in Key West, FL. in June 2021. Over the past 20 years, thousands of men have participated in these annual Family Reunions and given just under $250,000 to various charities. Tomcat’s unquenchable spirit and dedication has maintained the Celebration’s credo “We’re All In This together!!! and Together, We Can Make A Difference!!!

tomcat9722@aol.com

A Celebration of Friends

Alain Lecusay

Vice-President ACOF

Born in Cuba, Alain came to this country when he was ten years old.

Upon graduation from high school, Alain enlisted in the Marine Corps to travel the world. And travel he did, spending the next twenty-five years visiting the Pacific Rim, Kenya, Jordan, Somalia, China and Australia before retiring as a Master Sergeant.

Alain is currently working for one of Florida’s local City police Departments in the data entry field. He believes in the ACOF and the need for the A Celebration of Friends so deeply, he gladly volunteered to be on the Board and is one of its hardest working members. His innocence and shyness is something not often seen in a gay environment.

Alain would love to hear from you.

A Celebration of Friends

Franco Sperduti & Ray Boltz

Advisor 

Franco is “Mr. ACOF 2019” and also our newest Board Member.

A Celebration of Friends

William (Bill) Hagel

ACOF Advisor

Bill is a proud veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from 1968-1972. After attending is first Celebration in July of 2017, He was so inspired with the mission that he ran for office and became a member of the Board. He worked for 31 years at AT&T as the Travel Manager providing services for over 300,000 employees. After leaving AT&T, Bill spent time as VP of Finance and Human Resources for Med-Jet. He finished up by returning to the corporate travel industry as VP of Sales and Customer Service for Gem Limousine Worldwide.

thumbnail_Gail & Joel

Gail Friend & Joel Leenaars

Board Member & Partner

Gail Friend w/ partner Joel Leenaars

Gail Friend and his partner Joel Leenaars summer in Naples, Fl and winter in Danbury, IA. Gail spent 38 years as a school guidance counselor in Naples. Joel was an elementary teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Florida. They happily spend their days enjoying nature and films. 

A Celebration of Friends

Charlie Egan & Efrain Campomenosi

Board Member 

Board Member Efrain Campomenosi has been a member of the A Celebration of Friends for over two years.

A Former member of the New York State Thruway Authority he is now employed as a Health Care Provider
He and Charlie Egan have been together for over
two years.

Charlie & Nick bio

Charlie Chiarelli
w/Nick Bisantino

MR ACOF 2022

 
Charlie has been with the ACOF since its inception in 2002.
This Canadian born youngster has been a U.S. citizen and a New York native for fifty years.  A member of Dignity and Prime Timers New York and then a founding member of the Fort and also the Lauderdale Prime Timers.  Charlie and Nick have been together since 2017, and live in Davie, FL.

GET IN TOUCH WITH US

Thank you for visiting https://celebrationoffriends.org!
As we strive for excellence and are continuously improving our services we are always interested in and indeed encourage feedback.

contact