| "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞-𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨, 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?" |
On November 4th, as we celebrated our 10th Annual Gala, I had the honor of delivering my reflections on the first decade of No Foot Too Small. A very patient room of 750 guests listened intently for nearly 35 minutes as I spoke to the history, the vision, and the tremendous need for our work. You see, over the last 10 years, I've had the privilege of bearing witness to countless stories, cried oceans of tears, embraced remarkable men and women, stood in delivery rooms and at gravesites, and learned so much about the coexistence of grief + joy. I can tell you, in that time, that the evolution of No Foot Too Small has been fast and fierce. I can only imagine it's because nothing else like NFTS exists.
Earlier this year, I shared the book “Built to Last” with our leadership team because as I see it, that's what we're here to do. My favorite excerpt from the book was a quote by Sam Walton, “I had no vision for the scope of what I would start but I always had confidence that as long as we did our work well and took care of our customers, there would be no limit for us.” I want you to know that I believe this to my very core. With sufficient resources to continue providing quality programs for our loss families, there will be no limit for us either.
And so today, I share a *very* abbreviated version of the message I delivered at Gala. I hope you'll watch it through to the end and enjoy Alicia Monee performing, "Stand By Me".
My deep gratitude for this journey, this incredible responsibility, and for the gift of each of YOU...is immeasurable. Thank you.
