A couple of weeks ago I went to LA for the HOBY Albert Schweitzer Leadership Awards Dinner. What
an amazing experience that was?! I had
the opportunity to meet so many amazing people that are doing incredible things
to make our local and global community a better place. Nights like that serve to remind me that
there are just as many people (if not more) out there doing good things than
there are bad and if you do not believe that, it is only because the media
focuses on the negative and you should spend more time actively searching for
those stories.
An alumnus from Arizona was
being honored and several of us from the Arizona
board went to support him. Over the last six years he has raised over $300,000
for the Animal Assisted Therapy Program at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital with
a charity golf tournament that he started. And he was just one of four young
alumni being honored that night.
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| Way to go Michael! You are a rock star!! |
I also helped put together a slideshow of what other alumni
in the area have been doing to make a positive difference in their community
since their HOBY experience. As I was
reading through all the mission trips to orphanages, building houses for poor
communities, volunteering at hospitals and researching cures for diseases that
people have been doing I couldn’t help but be proud of the organization that
has been a huge part of my life.
But hearing about all those great things was not what made
the experience amazing. It is HOBY, that
is just what our alumni do. I flew over
there for the night, rented a fancy car, and dressed up for a dinner at the
Beverly Hills Hotel. For a night it felt
like I was living someone else’s life; someone important.
Now most of you that read this are family and friends and I
am sure that you will argue that I am important, but that is not what I am
talking about. I mean I felt like I was
an important person to everyone else. The
whole experience was very surreal.
I even got a photo with Rainn Wilson (he hosted the
dinner). I was rubbing elbows with
celebrities, CEOs, big time lawyers, and professional basketball owners; that
is definitely not my life.
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| Rainn did an incredible job as MC! |
This song was the theme song for the entire experience. I've heard it before, but the local radio stations
don’t play it that much anymore here.
However, the LA station I happened upon in my fancy Ford Fusion (don’t
mock me, it had leather – that’s fancy to me) played that song several times
while I was there and the lyrics and overall tone of the song accented the air
of the experience.
Until next we meet
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