As we were walking into the Meyerson Symphony Center to see Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan, we rendezvoused with some fellow music lovers in the valet line.
“Does it mean we’re old when we’re going to see concerts at the symphony hall rather than a club?” she joked.
Perhaps. But it’s more likely we’ve simply grown into citizens as impassioned by music as philanthropy. This particular concert was the 22nd annual fundraiser for Vogel Alcove, a revolutionary and compassionate organization that, for nearly 30 years, has been providing free child care and development services for homeless Dallas children ages 5 years and younger.
Preceding McLachlan’s symphony-backed show, Vogel Alcove supporters gathered in the Meyerson lobby for drinks and dinner buffet. Once inside the performance hall, they listened intently as Gloria Campos emphasized the organization’s important works and introduced a video starring the Vogel Alcove kids and president and CEO Karen Hughes.
Hughes spoke proudly of the organization’s accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which sets the national standards of excellence for programs and teachers in early childhood education. Then the kids touched every heart in the crowd when they expressed what they wanted to be when they grow up.
When McLachlan took the stage, she told the audience of her visit to Vogel Alcove. After spending time with the children, she knew that she was forever changed and humbled to be in Dallas to support the cause. After she belted out a few songs — as powerfully as ever, with the symphony swelling in the background — no one could believe it when she said she had been suffering from walking pneumonia for weeks prior to her Dallas performance.
Among the evening’s fans — of both Vogel Alcove and McLachlan — were Mayor Mike Rawlings and wife Micki; Jennifer and Coley Clark; Donna and Herb Weitzman; Dawn and Craig Budner; Andy and Ricki Rabin; Corey and Phil Admire; and event chairs Marisa and Peter Knag, Christy and Paul Eisman, and Diane and Joel Allison.
Billy Chapman, Jeff Chapman
