“I wonder if the catering staff feels like part of something special?”  It’s the same question that pops into my head every year at NCEFT’s gala.  These people arrive expecting to pass around platters of mini lobster rolls and seared ahi, and instead find themselves cheering on Fund-A-Need bidders and tearing up while watching the story of a little boy who’s beating the odds.  I guess this question comes unbidden into my mind because I can’t help but feel like part of something special.  Though the name of our non-profit may incite thoughts of grandeur, when it comes down to it we’re more like a family than a titan of industry.  So, to see a fundraiser so enormously successful, so flawlessly executed, it’s enough to give anyone a serious case of the warm fuzzies.

The whole night is almost like a dream sequence; lights dimming as the camera pans past tables covered with checkered cloths to land on a set of chestnut horses standing motionless at the end of the arena.  The riders hold American Flags that stir faintly with the evening breeze as the sound of the National Anthem fills the air.  Fade out to the clinking of silverware and murmur of conversation as guests begin dinner.  As dusk turns to twilight, the energy changes.  Bidder cards are waved in the air, laughter competing with the frenetic pace of the auctioneer’s calls.  Before you know it, tables are emptying and the wooden dance floor rings with the sound of heeled boots beating time to Willie Nelson.  As the crowds begin to thin, a little boy heads back to the barn to say goodbye to his friends.  Wobbling down the aisle in a too big cowboy hat, he carries a bucket of hay, pulling small handfuls out for each of the horses.

What the catering staff feels I’ll never know.  But I can say with certainty that every guest in attendance must have felt the magic that was created in that arena on Runnymede Road last Saturday.  To attend the Gala is to change lives, to help children and adults who turn to NCEFT for horses, hope, and healing.