I don’t know about you, but my heart has been heavy over the past few weeks. My usually fast-moving feet have been dragging. Rest hasn’t been so restful. So much is at stake ALL AT ONCE.

 

That distant yet still very possible and necessary day – where all of our humanity is fully recognized and reflected in the social systems we navigate daily – seems to feel even more distant than I ever imagined.

 

As our team remains in deep relationship and discussion with parents, educators, and everyday St. Louisans, we are also reading the headlines just like you, seeing the election polling results, and scrolling the social feeds. It’s A LOT!

 

Sonya Massey killed. Abrupt leadership changes and serious transportation access challenges in our city’s public schools inevitably create further burdens for thousands of children, families, and educators. A Missouri gubernatorial candidate threatening to eradicate public education. Over 250 childcare centers closed across the region since the pandemic. More are slated to close as ARPA dollars dry up. Another two St. Louis young people died this past weekend as a result of gun violence. And so much more.

 

With all that is happening in our lives, one might consider it inappropriate and tone-deaf to glam up, suit up, and turn up at a Garden Party. As we are in between two elections that will very likely transform the course of history in immeasurable ways, we’ve got too much work to do for a night under the stars, right? I disagree.

 

For me, it’s more important now than ever before to party, but with a purpose. I need to be in beloved community, in proximity to those who know social change is hard but necessary and who might also feel the weight of the world but know there’s solace in solidarity. I need to root myself in joy and celebration of how far we’ve come and how much further we will go, nourished and sustained by evenings like  Friday, August 16th.

 

In moments like these, we need each other. We need healing, music, soulful food, the movement of our bodies, laughter, the light of each other, and the reminder to remain hopeful of the power of our collective action sparking a new set of conditions that activate instead of paralyze us.

 

So, I hope you join me in the Garden for our third annual Garden Party on Friday, August 16th, at 5:30 pm. The Garden Party is a fundraiser to nourish our work to close the racial wealth gap and increase access to quality early childhood education for our region’s 90,000 children.

 

The night will be filled with live music, sets from DJs, delicious food, libations, flowers and trees, love and energy among a committed community of biz leaders, changemakers, philanthropists, and passionate St. Louisans – the ingredients of a liberated future we can grow together.

 

Don’t miss out.

 

Let’s recharge, recommit, and prepare for the work ahead – starting with a night in the Garden.

 

With deep love, hope, and appreciation,