Last week my ensemble, The Rockford Aces, had a school-day run out to perform at a fundraiser for an amazing organization, the Rockford Education Foundation. We sang for several hundred people at a luncheon, helping in the process to raise tens of thousands of dollars for their endowment.
As always, it was fun to sing, fun to get out in the community, fun to support organizations we believe in.
But for me, the reason for that runout came on the bus ride home. To thank the driver for her shuttling (and for letting the Aces eat on the bus), we sang through Billy Joel’s Longest Time as we headed back to school.
She grinned the entire performance and couldn’t express her joy enough.
The guys were frustrated with their performance (it’s hard to hear on a bus) but if they had really looked at her smile, they would have understood that their music completely changed her day.
If you can connect with one person on a runout, it’s worth the time. That’s why we do runouts.
That’s why we sing!