Salute to Mesfin packs Reliable Source

 

More than a hundred members crammed into the Reliable Source Friday evening to salute Mesfin Mekonen for his 50 years of service to the National Press Club.

Club President Jen Judson presented Mesfin with a resolution from the Club board of governors honoring him not only for his longevity but also his dedication to members and his unfailing devotion to the Club as well as to his native Ethiopia.

The resolution declared Oct. 21 Mesfin Mekonen Day, not just this year, but all following years.

Mesfin arrived in the United States to pursue his education with the plan to return home after studying business management and personnel supervision. To help pay for all that, he sought a part-time job and approached the NPC to be a waiter.

“As the elevator opened that day in 1972, Mesfin walked into a career that now spans more than a half century,” said Gil Klein, chair of the Club’s History and Heritage team, which organized the event. When a Communist regime toppled Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and confiscated his family’s property, Mesfin could not return home for years.

Mesfin was here in the days the bar opened at 8:30 a.m., when some members arrived to start on their martinis and cigars, Klein noted. He was here when the Club was demolished for the building’s renovation during the early 1980s, helping to keep service alive amid the dust and construction. He was here during 9/11, staying on the job as many fled the city. And he was here all during the COVID-19 pandemic when few members dared venture in.

“He is, as many members told me leading up to tonight, the soul and spirit of the Club,” Klein said.

Steve Usdin, a Club member who has worked with Mesfin on his Ethiopian advocacy for several years, praised him for his determination to represent the Ethiopian people in Washington through several regime changes. Anyone who knows about Ethiopia in Washington knows about Mesfin, he said.

During his time here, he has met many celebrities and newsmakers – Ted Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Ted Danson of “Cheers” fame, basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar -- their picture is hanging in the Club. Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Barak Obama when he was a senator – many, many others.

Mesfin’s wife Elizabeth and daughter Mahlet had a special table to hear testimonials sent in earlier from several past Club presidents.

2020 President Mike Freedman: “During the long, lonely, scary pre-vaccination months of the pandemic in 2020, Mesfin was among the very few staff members on duty, onsite. His warm, welcoming smile and optimistic outlook never wavered. His dedication to the Club and its members was never more evident than during this unprecedented period when, ironically, there were no events and often the only Club member present was the president.”

2009 President Donna Leinwand Leger: “Every time I walk into the Reliable Source, Mesfin makes me feel like Norm from “Cheers” -- where everybody knows your name. He's a most gracious host, but he's also a man of great depth.”

“Presidents come. Presidents go. Mesfin endures, with professionalism, kindness, and dignity. He is our greatest living treasure,” 1998 President Doug Harbrecht told the gathering.

2004 President Sheila Cherry wrote of him: “Elegantly efficient and discretely resourceful.” 2011 President Mark Hamrick wrote that Mesfin is “the Clubhouse spirit,” a sentiment echoed by 2007 President Jerry Zremski: “Mesfin makes the Club feel like a Club.” 2013 President Angela Greiling Keane noted that Mesfin hurried to find a high chair for her baby. Now that baby is a college freshman “who literally grew up with Mesfin.”

2016 President Jeff Ballou wrote that when he joined the Club in 1990 Mesfin had an “unforgettable warm smile and handshake. There was a certain air about him, not off-putting, it was regal, classy -- a greeting that said, ‘you belong here.’”

Both presidents Rich Sammon, 1997, and Myron Belkind, 2014, pegged Mesfin as “The ambassador of the National Press Club.”

Taking the podium, Mesfin noted that when he walked into the Club for the first time, he had no idea he would spend his entire career here. Photos provided by the Club’s archive and from his personal collection rotated on a screen behind him, showing him from his high school graduation to today.

In those 50 years, he said, “the world has changed, the Club has changed, and as you can see from the photos, I have changed. But in all those years, some things have remained the same. For all of my time here, the National Press Club has attracted some of the most talented journalists. And the most interesting people in the world have visited the Club. I’ve been fortunate to get to know so many journalists, to meet newsmakers, to watch history being made. It has been an honor to help make this such a special place. And a joy to count many of you as friends.”