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On Sunday, May 6, Mr. San Diego Eagle 2012 Eli hosted his first Potluck Social. The event reached full capacity, first time out:

As I commented to Eli, folks tend to vote with their feet - If they don't believe in something, they would certainly stay away, particularly on such a pretty Sunday afternoon. 

In this case, there was a huge turnout , with every seat taken, and way too much food!  This tells me that Eli has been earning his excellent reputation the right way, over and over, and that he has huge credibility with folks in many cities. If I'm in another city, and ask somebody "You know Eli, right?" they always immediately fire back "Of course!"

I'm in nearly daily communication with Eli, and he never, ever stops planning for how he is going to attend the maximum number of events in as many cities as possible. He feels that a titleholder's highest calling is to be an ambassador of good-will. Given that he is grossly underemployed, I don't know how he does it all.

It was a great, non-alcohol-oriented event that kept up a constant roar of delightedly happy chatter at all times. This made it very easy for me to sign up more new guys for the FMSD list. Several of them were new to San Diego. When they saw how comfortable, amiable and mellow everyone was with each other, they couldn't wait to find out more!

Eli also helped raise some more money for Mr. San Diego Leather 2011 Kurt's travel fund.

TC (on the left in the blue shirt) contributed lots of leather items for the raffle, and Ray (in the tan sleeveless shirt) donated some gorgeous artworks. Kurt (in the center) will be traveling to Chicago to compete for the title of International Mr. Leather 2012 at the end of the month with a few more bucks to help him along his way!

I'm particularly pleased with this photo. I took it on the spur of the moment, but it made me pause and look closer, later on. In San Diego, we are greatly blessed with younger men who are very active and involved in making our town a better place, and they are rewarded with a huge, loving support-team. The picture shows men who are serenely comfortable with each other. I can easily imagine these men being good friends for the rest of their lives!

Many thanks to Eli for throwing this together. He sweated bullets for weeks, coordinating volunteers and raffle-items, and making sure that there weren't 23 variations of bean salad on the table! He is learning from every event that he hosts, and we all benefit as a result.