Another year’s gala is behind us and we again return to the daily “housekeeping” that’s been neglected in favor of catering orders and sound checks. Like family gathering on the porch, Monday found NCEFT staff making their way to the viewing deck with lunches in hand, swapping stories of the night as they walked.
We talk about the gala as a single event. A night that starts at 5:30 with cocktails and ends at 11:00pm with the band playing us out as we walk to our cars exhausted but full. However, what we accomplish during those few hours knows no timeline, no start and finish. The gala isn’t one night; it’s a semi-colon in the middle of one very long sentence. Unlike a period, which marks the end of a thought, a semicolon serves to connect.
The gala connects the work we do with the work we hope to do. It connects those who have helped, to those who are helping, to those who will help. We all walk away feeling more strongly connected to the family that is NCEFT; patients, staff, volunteers, and donors. It’s our hope these newly forged bonds will continue to support the work we do within the community and beyond.
The funds raised on that night allow us to continue pursuing new opportunities to help an ever-widening group of patients and sustain our therapeutic programs. Gala guests built the scholarships that help those who cannot help themselves, sponsored the programs serving our wounded servicemen, and backed the research that alters the lives of so many.
Words can’t express the amount of positive change accomplished during the gala, changes that will resonate for years to come. Thanks to everyone’s help we are able to continue pushing forward, and with your continued support we will make the unimaginable possible.