here is the thank you speech during which I got a little choked up. I am so grateful….
Thank you all so much for coming here tonight and for your incredible support and hard work in this journey. Most of you know that this cause has been very near to my heart, in fact over the past several months it turned into a mission to help others who find themselves in a difficult situation. I’ve learned so much along this journey which in stemmed from a very traumatic incident that happened to me in 2005 when I was drugged and raped. For years I tried to bury that incident and often avoided mentioning it, as if that way I could erase what happened… but what is that saying? “that which you resist persists” turned out to be all too true. After what happened I wanted to hide from the world, yet ironically it was by opening up to the world, even to complete strangers about what happened to me that I found the greatest healing.
I’d like to read you a brief passage from a book I love by Gordon Livingston, called “Too soon old, too late smart”. It is easy to get caught up in past traumas as explanations for why our lives are not what we wish. The problem with living in the past is that it inhibits change and is therefore inherently pessimistic. Certainly it is true that understanding who we are depends on paying attention to the history of our lives. Somewhere between ignoring the past and wallowing in it there is a place where we can learn from what has happened to us including the inevitable mistakes we have made and integrate this knowledge into our plans for the future. Inevitably this process requires some exercises in forgiveness. It is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves. It is simultaneously an act of will and of surrender and it often seems impossible until the moment you do it. To acknowledge that we have been harmed by another but choose to let go of our resentment is a way of liberating ourselves from a sense of oppression and a hopeful statement of our capacity for change. It leaves us free to choose the attitudes with which we confront the present and the future.
This has been such an incredible rollercoaster of a journey which happened in the blink of an eye..well a bleary sleepless eye at times. In two months we were able to create a brand new fundraiser, launch it, create a fabulous website and incredible awareness campaign including numerous print and radio spot lights. We then signed up 9 salons who donated 20% of their profits from August 22nd and finally created this closing evening with 20+ exciting silent auction items….hint hint..there is still time to bid. When people ask me how I did it, I tell them honestly that I didn’t do it. I’ll take credit for being the persistent voice of “ but I really really want this to work” however most of the actual work credit belongs to my wonderful board members (Allison Grisham (who doubled as my personal photographer), Ann Horowich, Stephanie Itule, Marilyn Reitman, Calvin Marshall, Allie Bell and Katriona McIver), these folks joined me every week at Le Cafe where we strategized over delicious food, wine and cupcakes. My wonderful web designer guru Pablo Calderon Rodgriguez who could not be here tonight, my incredible PR Guru Jennifer Becker from BKR Media who believed that this would work before it even had a name, Serge Castagna from DogTrackRabbit who came up with our logo and cool design ideas, Kari who supported me with many fliers at lightning speed, Elyssa who designed our business cards, Alessandra who made my letters compelling, Melanie from the Conrad who kindly hosted our launch party as well as tonight’s event, Fred from Miami.com who helped promote this, Natalia from 93.9 who got us on the air and was our gracious MC for tonight as well as the many volunteers that are helping us tonight and of course the many wonderfully generous salons that contributed and WomenInDistress for their support. Now I really feel like I’m giving an Oscar speech! I’m sure that there are people that I am forgetting. Please forgive me, I am truly grateful to you in my heart.
Before I turn it over to Mary Reidel from WomenInDistress who will tell you more about the very important work that they do, I’d like to leave you with one more passage about friendship from the book 50 things that really matter.
“Once in a while you make friends who have the power to restore your faith in humanity. Once in the greatest of whiles, you make friends who can restore your faith in yourself” That’s what you did for me, thank you so very much and happy bidding!
