I and my staff have been incredibly touched by all the thank you cards, notes and folks who have stopped in to express their appreciation and gratitude for our Mother’s Day “give-away”. You should know that we discovered for ourselves some amazing gifts that we hadn’t anticipated when we were planning and creating the event. The second most important thing we realized was how much we came together as a  staff to serve a single, committed purpose. In the past, with many of the charitable events that we have participated in, the staff will assist in designing and creating a piece and Cameron or I will appear at the event to present the winner or recipient with our donation. Unfortunately, the rest of the staff doesn’t get to experience the appreciation we receive at the event and there is a disconnect  for the rest of our talented team. One of our goals with the Mother’s Day event was that we all would be on the ground floor, start-to-finish and everyone would share in the emotions and appreciation we created. We just waaaaay underestimated the level of gratitude that our guests brought forth and I was moved deeply to see how much my staff was touched by what we had created!

I learned to not underestimate the power of giving to give…..

But, the most important thing we discovered was that we could create an event  for people who had and were facing horrendous personal circumstances, to come and allow us to share our work and our acknowledgment of what they were going through. We saw that people came not for “charity” but for the opportunity of an authentic gift that they then  could share with someone they loved and wanted to acknowledge for being significant in their life! We were humbled by the poignant dignity that every one shared coming in and waving goodbye… We rediscovered and relearned that we all deserve that dignity, no matter our circumstances…so the bow goes to all of you and my gracious staff….when you soar I soar!