Wednesday was a very cool day. As I mentioned when I first got the word that we were doing the fund raiser for Give Kids The World, I felt like it gave me some purpose in a time where I'm kind of wondering what my next move is. Once we got to the day of the actual event, I was not disappointed.
The day before, I got up to the park late in the afternoon just to get out of the house. Met up with Tim and then had a pow-wow with Susie and Pam from GKTW. Bryan was sick, so Tim ended up running things. Was good to see the logo on a T-shirt (even though Bryan used the old color version). I had a little dinner and beer at Famous Dave's, hoping to wind down a little.
CP put me up in one of the executive apartments, the big temporary living spaces on the south side of the Cedars dorm. The building is old, and you can tell as it's slightly musty, but all of the furniture is new in the last few years. The room I had slept six, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was ridiculous! That night before, I met up with Jeff and Rebekah and finally got a spin on Millennium Force for the first time this year. I still don't have one on Raptor. I just haven't been to the park much.
We loaded up at 6:15 a.m., and drove around. Man was that early. It was still darkish and the lights were on in the Gemini station. We had a tend down on the midway to chat with the public.
I only did a couple of rides at the start and at the end, and spent most of the day talking with, and getting to know, Pam and Susie. Pam is an incredibly interesting person with many stories, and she's just done so much stuff in her life. As she put it, she's thankful to do something that easily gives her a sense of purpose. Not a lot of people get that in life.
It was also fun to get some face time with Susie. I think the first time I talked to her was 2002 to set up an event at SFGAm, but didn't meet her because I had to coach that weekend (Stephanie was the CoasterBuzz rep for that event). The next year, she split for Universal. There, I missed the days she was working. Then she went to Kings Dominion, and before we could set anything up there, she ended up at GKTW. So aside from meeting her briefly at IAAPA, we had barely met in person! Spent a lot of time trading stories, talking about the industry, mutual friends, pets and life.
In the middle of the day, I also got to do some visiting and schmoozing. I know that's cheesy, but I've not done a good job maintaining relationships for the last year or two. That's important because it helps to be on good terms when you're trying to do events, whether it's the club or the charity.
I also had a conversation with one of the sweeps who had stopped to talk to us. She spent a great deal of time in the hospital as a small child because she was born with one leg separated from her hip. Then she had some kind of surgery to make one leg not be longer than the other. She really identified with what GKTW was all about, and that was kind of moving.
So for me, as the day went on, there was a certain realization about how much I liked the charity, which shouldn't surprise me that much since already I consider the most rewarding things in my life to revolve around working with kids. A lot causes and charities seem like kind of a black hole when it comes to giving them money, and you don't really know what your dollar does. But this one is pretty black and white. That they can also staff thousands of volunteer hours a week is also remarkable. And of course, when you get to know the people running it all, and you really like them, that doesn't hurt either.
I really felt like something changed by the end of the day. It's hard to describe. It felt really good to be a part of something like that.
No comments yet.