It's that time again for the BC Children's Miracle Weekend. This was my
last year as the Chair of the Retail Wholesale Committee and the pressure was on
to top our incredible record breaking $5,152,815 fund raising amount from last year.
In addition I was the MC again for the Retail Wholesale party. I flip-flopped on
which one I was more nervous about - beating our fundraising record, or public
speaking in front of a few hundred people.
I'm happy to say we set another fund raising record of over $5.2 million, and as for the
public speaking, a strange thing happened. First, when I picked up the microphone
to get everyone's attention the volume was set to an ear splitting level that
made everyone jump when I spoke. Not a good start. But as I started reading off
the script, I got to a part where I was to give thanks to the Miracle Weekend
Chair John Ridley. The words written on the page by someone else just didn't
square with what was in my heart, so I told the audience "I'm going off script"
and tossed down the papers I was reading. Instead I said what was in my heart
and thanked John with true gratitude. It felt great, and later the people from
the audience said it was a memorable moment - including John. I don't do much
public speaking but learned a great lesson; Talk about what you know from your
heart and you can't go wrong.
Thanks to all the donors who helped make my Miracle Maker Phone Panel the
best year yet.
