Six years ago we had a party for family and friends on Toronto Island to bring awareness to the Alma Foundation. There were a ton of complications exasperated by thunderstorms and a band that didn’t fully show up, but a lot of fun was had by all.
And I said I would never do it again.
Six years later this has become an annual ritual which, while still a lot of work to pull off, has become a highlight evening of the year for me. I think that it is important to celebrate civil society work and it is truly a pleasure to be in a large group of people who take time out of their busy days and fight Toronto traffic to share in that sentiment. The Peruvian food is great and I have a weakness for pisco sours, but it’s the people that come together at the Alma annual party that I love the most.
This year, because we had for the first time Ian, our program director here speaking briefly about our projects I didn’t have to do a speech (a good thing) and because I wrecked my back a few days ago I couldn’t participate in the Salsa lesson (also a good thing). I was able to have double portions of Dan and Sue’s ceviche, Silvia’s aji de gallina and causa and this year’s new addition: Lawrence and Leslie’s anticuchos. All awesome! Thanks to all of them plus Carlos for the pisco sours. Thanks also to all the volunteers who managed the tables, the bar, parking, set-up, take-down etc. etc. Thanks to John Sproat and Chris Gray for helping AGAIN this year getting sponsorships, thanks to all those who donated items to the silent auction and finally thanks to the event committee: Carlos Paz-Soldan, Jocelyn Luk and Melanie Rodriguez.
The weather was great, we had a wonderful crowd and we made about $48,000 ($40,000 net), all of which will make its way down to the small remote communities where we work and eventually manifest itself in young children who will be able to think critically and change their own social and economic circumstances.
See you next year!
Alan