A new name for BAF!!

Clay's Blog, 8-5-2009

08/05/09 New Day!

By now you've seen the new National Inclusion Project website and hopefully you are exploring it. One thing that you will come across as you are looking around is something that I am most excited about: the new Bubel/Aiken Founder's Award.

As the website states, it's an award that will be given for outstanding volunteer service to be given annually beginning with the 2009 Champions Gala on October 17, 2009. It was through grassroots volunteer efforts that the National Inclusion Project was started and it is through those efforts that we have been able to make such huge strides for inclusion nationwide.

The award will recognize a person or group who fully embraces the mission of the National Inclusion Project and makes an "above and beyond" effort to raise awareness and support year-round. The staff and Board will be choosing finalists from the nominations that YOU submit, and Diane and I will be selecting the winner personally each year from what I know will be a tremendous amount of qualified and deserving nominees.

You guys have been SOOOOO instrumental in making the organization as successful as it has been this past six years.. and we strongly feel it's important to recognize the folks who we all know have worked so hard. YOU!

Check out the new www.inclusionproject.org to learn about the nominating process and find the form to nominate yourself or other who you find deserving!

This news of the new website is very exciting for all of us.

(for those of you who were hoping for something different... sorry. Just be excited for this, and I promise we'll get you something else "soon"!)

c

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Champions of Change

I was asked to write a blog about the Gala. I am embarrassed to say that I have not paid that much attention to it this year. I am on a tight budget this year and couldn't stand to see all of the wonderful items being auctioned off on which I am unable to bid. Even though last year I thought I might be able to go this year, that hasn't happened either. So let me talk about the Gala in more general terms if that's okay. Let me marvel about the Bubel Aiken Foundation and all of the good it does. Let me be absolutely in awe of the dedication that created the foundation, the devotion that keeps it growing and the vision that will maintain it for years to come. Let me also mention Clay who said he wanted his image removed from the logo. He wants the Foundation to be about the Foundation. He wants it to be about the kids that it benefits and about the volunteers who do so much to promote inclusion. And yet, he appears at the Gala and sings for the attendees and personally thanks the people who are carrying the message.
Face it - we started the BAF. Clay thought of it, wrote about it, conceptualized it and dreamed of it. We found out about the dream and we sent money, pledged support and volunteered our time and, just like that, a charitable foundation was born. Now it grows and as that happens, more and more children are reaping the benefit of Clay and Diane's dream. I think that's pretty awesome!
Now to the Gala - the Champions of Change. We have all seen awards shows, we know about industry dinners and balls and self congratulatory events. In my own professional life I have attended these events where people are honored. Here's the difference, though - at all of those it seems that the industry is honoring itself. These things are a lot of self aggrandizement and a lot of patting themselves on the back. The Oscars honor the industry - not the people who go to the movies and pay for the tickets that allow the industry to flourish. The Emmys don't honor the couch potatoes with remotes in hand. I work in the construction field. We don't honor the tenants and owners who move into our spaces or hire us to build them. We honor those of us who build the spaces the best.
The Bubel Aiken Foundation, though, honors the beneficiaries. It honors and rewards the people who make it possible for the dream to come alive. It honors and thanks the very people for whom it was created - the kids and adults who have embraced inclusion and who work so very hard to make it a reality.
Now that's a reason for a Gala!

2008 Champions Of Change Gala