Non-profits throw fundraising galas to spotlight their services. In a time when anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant, and anti-minority policies have been harming individuals and undercutting non-profits nationwide, this year, Latinos Salud’s presenters shared searingly personal and shocking stories.
Their brave stories left audience members at first stunned, and then inspired, when the agency described how it actually increased its services to help more people in need than ever before.
The evening started with a young man, Gaston, relating in detail his harrowing experience when he was pulled over and detained by the Border Patrol in Dania Beach. Despite being a legal resident in the United States with papers to prove it, he was held for 45 days, kept in crowded facilities without even being allowed to have a toothbrush, forced to share open toilets while living in a cramped cage with up to 30 other men, moved multiple times in handcuffs and shackles, all before a judge finally granted bond (without even vacating the arrest).
As the sold-out audience absorbed the devastating story, Gaston then joined Stefano May in a bold rendition of Labi Siffre’s anti-apartheid song, “Something Inside (So Strong).” The crowd leapt to its feet.
Next, a staff member of Latinos Salud related how he had struggled with feelings of isolation and loss of purpose when his legal work permit was canceled without cause. Unable to work for six months, the employee pushed through red tape and, with the help of a lawyer, secured a new work permit.
His voice choking, the employee then read aloud the letter he had clung to during those months he had been in limbo. Latinos Salud’s Executive Director, Dr. Stephen Fallon, had written promising to restore the employee’s job, whenever he succeeded in restoring his work permit, whether or not the agency had a job opening. “We value employees who invest their care in the community, and we stand by them,” Fallon had written.
Two of the recipients of Latinos Salud’s “Health & Support Services Pride Scholarships” then took the stage, one a junior working towards his Bachelor’s in Nursing, the other a final-year PhD student in Public Health. Interviewing one another live, the young men spoke of the great relief the $5,000 and $6,000 scholarships gave them, so that they could focus on their studies. Each told of their dream of paying it forward through service to the South Florida community in their chosen majors, where they serve fellow LGBT community members with compassion and support.
Despite a year of enormous shortfalls totaling $93,600 per month in salaries and benefits that would have continued to be covered by grants over the past year, Latinos Salud did not lay off a single employee, curtail any services, or cut any hours.
Fallon closed the evening summarizing all that had come before: “Our goal is to make sure everyone knows that, at least here, you are safe and sound.” With that, Stefano and Gaston launched a dance-energy rendition of Capital Cities’ song, “Safe and Sound,” and led the audience to dancing al fresco by the riverfront outside the ballroom.
Latinos Salud’s Gala elevated voices, moved hearts, and by its conclusion, raised spirits.
Content courtesy of OutClique Writer
