“Well….that was worth it!”

Two Steinway pianos in a beautiful auditorium made for a wonderful ICHF fundraiser Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. The Ruth Lilly Concert Hall on the University of Indianapolis campus seats 500 and is created on a Viennese performance venue pattern, hearkening back to the great performing centers of Europe.

$1900 was raised for ICHF in an hour…almost enough to save the life of a child in a poor area of some country we travel to. Maybe Iraq or Brazil. Perhaps Nicaragua or Haiti. Maybe India or China. It doesn’t matter “where” it just matters “that.”

But raising that money is only part of the story. Grab a drink, sit down, take a moment and IMAGINE if you can….

It’s a blistering hot Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. I walked in to the recital hall by myself at 2:20 in advance of the 3pm performance. Sunglasses were necessary and wearing a sport coat seemed like a bad idea in hindsight. As I walked into the building I could hear the performers rehearsing. I entered the Hall and proceeded to set up my laptop to the projector which would show on a huge screen beside the shiny black pianos. Click here for VIDEO —>  M4V01563

UIndy’s Associate Professor of Music Rebecca Sorley’s talent for the piano is shared by her daughter Allegra, who took lessons at UIndy in younger days but now is a sophomore piano performance major at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. These two are truly experts! The performance featured the pianists playing together — sometimes on one piano, sometimes on two.  The program included selections by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Milhaud and Richard Rodney Bennett. While I consider myself an eclectic music lover I must admit I enjoyed the Bennett better than the others. His work provided a more modern element and really jazzed up the afternoon!

As I sat there in the air-conditioned, multi-million dollar concert hall I couldn’t help but run numbers in my head and think of children around the globe. I know it’s impossible, but wouldn’t it be incredible if all of the kids we operate on this year could sit in this concert hall and hear this beautiful music? I imagine their mouths hanging open as they look at the surroundings and hear the music of Becky and Allegra. I imagine each of our donors standing on that stage looking out into the audience seeing 800 smiling faces looking back at them. I imagine Julianna who came from her mud hut in Brazil.

Imagine Nancy from Honduras. Imagine Juan Carlos from the Dominican Republic. Imagine.

Can we put a price tag on those smiles…..the smiles from the donors on stage and the smiles from the kids in the comfy chairs? Some might say those smiles are “priceless.” At ICHF we say…..”well, that was worth $2500!”