Here in LA, its benefit season. The days are now brighter, longer, the invitations and donation letters begin to pile up in the mail box. With all of the fun and fundraising comes the hours of work and volunteering. Each charity benefit takes hundreds of hours of volunteers to raise funds for the causes that mean so much.
With days spent stuffing envelopes, coordinating logistics from garden tours to fashion shows and everything in between I recently found myself saying why am I doing this? Why do I volunteer? Why do I give?
The answer came to me unexpectedly the other night after a long day of meetings. I was heading to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for the launch of the Junior Ambassador program, that I am Co-Chairing. I was tired and questioning myself until I heard Manny Hernandez speak.
His story reminded me. Why.
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Manny spoke about his 10-year-old son, Manny III and how he had been a patient at CHLA off and on most of his life. He spoke of his excitement in being able to actually build the new hospital building (he is a construction worker) where his son spent so much time. His pride in both the building and his son were evident. Manny talked about little Manny wanting to be a nurse since he had always been a patient.
When he told us that little Manny died this past December, that his dream of being a nurse wasn’t going to happen but his sisters were studying to carry on that dream well, we all fell apart. This brave and loving Dad sharing his story and love for the hospital and all it had done for his family. It was so real, so beautiful, so brave and so exactly why it is …. we do what we do.
At the end of the day whether it is a stuffed envelope, a phone call, an invitation, a donation, it is all about the people’s lives that we touch. It is those moments when brave men like Manny Hernandez share their pride in giving that makes you realize that everything we do matters. Charity Matters.
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