How the Grinch Stole Christmas: A Powerless Party

| 16 December 2016

The Department of Medicine Awards Ceremony was to be held last night at the Isabel Bader Centre, but alas the Grinch descended, his heart three sizes too small, and took the power that was needed for all. unhappy-grinch

The City of Kingston power outage affected power to the Isabel and also affected access to water meaning that the event could not continue. A tough decision was made to send out the cancellation notice, informing as many people as possible not to attend. Our apologies to all who missed the notice and attended the event only to be turned away.

Throughout all of the decision-making on the power problem and cancellation of the event, the hall was being serenaded by our charity for the evening – Sistema Kingston. Sistema Kingston was launched in 2015 as an intensive after school music program for children in North Kingston that focuses on positive social change achieved through pursuit of musical excellence. The group of 11 children were diligently rehearsing for their performance as the event was cancelled around them. This was not acceptable and we determined that if only one thing would happen then it would be that these children would perform!

We are thrilled to say they performed perfectly and got a standing ovation from their audience. The staff of the Isabel, Department of Medicine, Soundworks and ODNT paused their work and joined together and shared in the beautiful performance by the children. The joy in the children’s faces, and the happiness that radiated from them as they performed, was enough to make us pause and realize – our party can be rescheduled, the work can be re-done, and the true meaning of Christmas is the joy in the eyes and faces of our children. The fact that the children were able to perform and be presented with their thank you gift meant that some portion of our event was successful; some may even say the most important part. The children left the venue empowered, and filled with self-belief and pride – a true success of the evening!

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”

~Sir Bernard Williams

Finally, we ask that you consider a donation to Sistema Kingston to help them continue on their path to empowering their members. They are the working towards matching a $20K grant to fund their operation; your donations can be made on line here.

The food for the evening was packaged up and donated to Loving Spoonful for distribution to those in need, again an opportunity for something positive to come from the cancellation.

So, we move on, and we plan the Annual Awards Ceremony 2.0 #celebratethenewyear, which will take place in January 2017. We hope that we can welcome Sistema Kingston back so that everyone can enjoy another performance and see what a great organization they are. We look forward to the opportunity to celebrate with you all and welcome in the New Year.

Guest written by Jill McCreary with editorial input by Dr. Archer.