Enterprise Mentors International (EMI) Part 2

A month ago I did a blog entry on a new organization which I was made aware of at the September Cleofon ladies group meeting. In the entry, I asked if anyone would be interested in going with me to the fund raising gala. My dear friend Colleen responded that she would love to go, so last night she and I had the opportunity to go to the annual EMI gala at the Grand American Hotel ballroom in SLC. I didn't take my camera, but I wish I would have. Wow. Wow. Wow.
The ballroom was packed. I don't know how many hundreds of people attended, but it was a capacity crowd. The master of ceremonies was Lloyd Newell, voice of the Spoken Word for the Mormon Tabernacle choir broadcasts. Elder Holland and Elder Cook were in the audience along with Senator Hatch and many other dignitaries. We didn't see any of these people because the ball room was so huge and we were sitting to one side. We did however, see my great friend Kathleen and a couple who used to live in our ward. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and made some new friends at our dinner table. I sat next to Colleen on one side and Dr. David N. Sundwall who is on the Governor's cabinet over Health in the state of Utah. We made contact with another couple at our table who gave us more information about how to get involved with EMI. The woman, Leah, is a young woman about the age of Jordan and Jana Philipp and she got involved when she moved to Utah several years ago. We hope to make contact with her and get involved at a local level supporing EMI.
After dinner, we were shown a video of vignettes of various people who have been helped by EMI. They are people who live in grinding poverty as described in my first blog entry, and they are able to take out a small micro credit loans for about $150 to start a small home business. It's amazing what people invent or create to make money. The stories were so touching and real. Most of the people are from the Philippines, Guatemala and Peru. Since my husband served his LDS mission in Peru, I was very interested in learning more about how the organization has helped those good people. Colleen's daughter Jana served her mission in Guatemala and Colleen has been there twice to visit the country with Jana. She loved the Guatamalan people and knows that their needs are real. It's impossible to describe the kind of poverty and heartache that most of these people live in daily. It's beyond our wildest dreams unless it is seen personally. Yet, they make the most of what they have and are so humble and kind.
The theme for EMI this year at the gala was "Celebrating a Legacy of Hope" and that is exactly what they do. All the proceeds from the gala (which amounted to over $300,000 that one evening) are sent to EMI. Our dinner and all the costs of the evening were paid for by the board of directors (very wealthy people I'm sure.) It felt good to know that our small contribution would be enough to help one person get going on a home business to support their family. Most of the loans are given to women with children and it is truly amazing to see how the loan helps their families by giving them opportunities for education and growth.
If that weren't enough, the rest of the evening consisted of a performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They sang six songs, four of my most favorite of all time - Consider the Lilies of the Field, He Shall Feed His Flock, The Impossible Dream and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. They were amazing and it was incredible to sit about 50 feet from them and to hear their beautiful sound quality in a ballroom setting. It gave me goose bumps.
We were all given a little hand made heart ornament made by a man in the Philippines who takes old fluorescent tubes and melts them down and makes little delicate ornaments out of them. I even had a little red heart in my program that entitled me to take our beautiful centerpiece home with me (shown above.)
It was an evening not soon to be forgotten for a cause in which I truly want to get involved. Colleen and I decided to return next year and to bring our husbands along. We had such a wonderful evening visiting and learning more about an organization that "gives a hand up, not a hand out." Please join us next year if you are interested and ask me more about it. The 5 Browns will be performing!