hi everybody

it has been a while since my last letter to you all and i felt it was time to bring you all up to date as to what has been going on with me........its been a load of traveling as i am sure you have seen from the itinerary and it looks as if nothing has changed..........i will be traveling again in and out of the u.s. and do hope that i will be seeing a few of you if i am near any of you during my travels..........on the 18th of October the one year anniversary of my sisters transition, the hospital that she spent her last days (east orange general hospital) held a spirit filled day in her honor by dedicating the "family waiting room" in the i.c.u. unit (where dee dee was for quite a while), in her name with a bronze plaque, loads of delicious food, official government dignitaries, (all of whom gave resolutions in her name), and the highlight was from the children who attend the dionne warwick institutes performance singing for the illustrious group of people who attended..........it was a joyous day i am happy to report and one that i will certainly remember always..........my travels took me to manila and it was a very enlightening experience to witness the devastation that has recently taken place there with the floods and unfortunate losses of so many.........the concert receipts that i performed at was given to those in need and it was with pleasure that i was a part of this..........i am sure that they will be in need of many things for a long time, so if any of you are of a mind and able to contribute to relieve some of the stress of those suffering in manila please do so...........i have finished the "sammy cahn" recording and must say it is wonderful.......orchestra and strings are now being added and it should be ready for all of you within the next few weeks....i am sure all of you will agree with me that it is a very special recording........i have been invited to be a special guest of the great composer michel legrand for 2 shows and am looking forward to this as his compositions are truly beautiful and will be a joy to sing........those in japan that have been asking when i will be back well, after a very long time i will see you all in December and i'm looking forward to seeing you again........the 29th of this month i will be speaking at the u.n. in new york in my role as an ambassador of the fao unit of the u.n. promoting world food day bringing focus to the need of worldwide hunger.........i will be starting a project with regards to this and will be posting my thoughts as to how all of you can be of help to making hunger a thing of the past!

i was honored by the young musicians foundation this month and received the first emerald award from them......this was an absolutely glorious evening and to hear the musicianship of these young people was an awesome experience........to have been able to perform a couple of songs being accompanied by them was even more awesome..........my surprise was the award was presented to me by hal david, who by the way looks wonderful.........

well, i think that's all for now and when i come up with the project for hunger i will let you all know how you can be of service.

until next time

take good care of yourselves

dionne