Drumroll please… Because of your generosity and support we were able to raise $700,000 and counting, as a part of BP 9.0! This historic evening has left our team in a place of true humble reflection. It was a complete reminder to all of us why every bit of what we do and what we pour our heart and soul into is incredibly important.
Here's a quick recap of the event.
The tone was set and your mind was transformed the second that you saw cars directly out of the roaring 20s. As you proceeded down the red carpet and into the venue you are captivated by a foyer with smiling faces and client stories for your viewing pleasure. As you entered the auction room you were captivated by nearly 400 items that were at your disposal to bid against your friends and Be Perfect supporters as the night went on. The silent auction alone raised $137,000.
Each of you then transitioned yourself into the main ballroom and were immediately taken back by the captivating band of "Blue Note" throwing melodies your way reminiscent of that of the 1920s. Friendly banter thereafter took place between Hal Hargrave Senior and Jenna Hardy, both committee members of the foundation. The stage was then set for a wonderful evening right after Senior Pastor of Hillside Community Church, Aaron McRae, gave a thought-provoking message blessing the evening ahead. Dinner was a time to connect with friends and family as we were all immersed in the humble nature of the Be Perfect community. Then the room went black.
An intro video about the seasons of our life immediately captured our minds and attuned them to the theme ahead of telling important stories about the seasons of our lives. Hal Hargrave Junior then took the stage and delivered an address to the crowd about his own seasons of life and his approach of flipping his own lens to try and see the beauty rather than the turmoil in each of his seasons of life. He asserted that living is a verb and that many of us forgot to do it in the midst of the pandemic. Regardless of our circumstances, we have a choice to make every day to live in the midst of our circumstances. The theme wrapped itself up throughout his address reverting back to how we must pay more attention to our senses, namely the sense of hearing. It's easy to hear but it's tougher to listen. This simple connotation of listening provoked all of us to start "listening" throughout the night with a little more intent to both what we were audibly hearing and what we were internally feeling. In essence, listening to our heart and what it was provoking us to do in the form of action.
The rest of the program thereafter flew by. Throughout the program, four subsequent videos of the seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall were told through the lens of our three client nominees of the evening (Stefanie Schaffer, Jordan Walker, and Erika Franco). Their stories simply stole our hearts and made us want to commit to do more.
It was also the little elements in between that created lasting memories. An incredible and impactful song that was sung by "Harmony Bathauer" immediately set the tone after coming out of a winter season of telling stories. Glimmers of hope were indicated through Ashton Wray and her father, Randy Horowitz, and their address to the crowd. Ashton, a trainer at The Perfect Step, talked about her interactions with her father throughout his 40-year journey after sustaining a spinal cord injury. Randy spoke on the importance of looking at the injury as something that is lifelong but something that when you commit to that there is beauty in the midst of the recovery process. A 100-mile bike ride was completed in honor of his 40 year anniversary of his accident this past year to raise money for BP.
Jenna Hardy Surina then introduced David Francisco who performed two incredible songs that gave us all an everlasting impression and a feeling that we are not a victim of our circumstances. Jenna then introduced the David Stoeklein award and this year's recipient of Chris Clark. A very profound moment that left Chris awestruck.
The night culminated as we wrapped up all four seasons and ended with an outro video that brought the theme together and full-circle that our stories, regardless of the seasons that we have in our lives are worth sharing and worth telling so we can rally around each other to get each other through those seasons.
Brian Wurzell, a supporter of BP, then took the stage to call to action each of our philanthropic hearts. His heartfelt message left people in a place of knowing that we can all do more to support those in need. His simple challenge and benchmark of raising $1 million that evening was a lofty and ambitious goal that we nearly reached!
The "Night Shift" band sang the night away and performed jams that we could all sing along to and never forget out on the dance floor.
Ultimately, the night as a whole was something that we will never forget, but the memories that were made were because of the little intrinsic moments in between. The transitional moments gave life to the videos that we showed and the videos created purpose behind what we were there to do. We were there to show support, we were there to advocate for those who need our help, and we were there to be philanthropic stewards towards those here in our local communities that need a source of hope for their recovery. That story in itself is worth telling.
Sometimes our purpose is not what we have already done, but rather what we have to look forward to. Our spark isn't our purpose, it's what comes when we are ready to go live.
What an evening...
