2023 Gala Recap
First, let me start with thank you. The outpouring of love and support was absolutely incredible Saturday night at the Stock Ranch. With over 450 people there, it was hard to connect with everyone, but the connection was there because of why we all gathered.
When I started this organization in July of 2014, I wrote a quote on the day of the signing of the filing. "We are not defined by our many scars, but by what we do when the wound closes."
What we have set out to do here is develop leaders. This nation desperately needs change, and it starts with the individual. To operate this mission in today's world, we operate not only as a non-profit but as a school for Warriors. The Warrior is one who balances the cruel realities of the earth while living by the standards of the heavens. You are helping build the home of the heart and a thought revolution.
Gratitude to each and every one of you. We are humbled and felt the love of every person there.
Thank you for making this work possible. Individuals, sponsors, foundations, and families all linked arms to pool the resources necessary to make continuing this work possible. Just like we teach the students as an organization, the more we can deconstruct what we have been taught, becoming our own laboratory, the closer we will get to the truth. What we discover we will keep bringing to the forefront of our work here at H&H and into the world.
This program requires day-in and day-out commitment to oneself as challenges are presented at every turn aided by time, the unknown, personalities, duration, elemental teachers like heat and cold, environmental factors, and the other helpers, the horses, ranch, and staff. This is where your resources go. The changes that occur here at H&H are undeniable, even to the most skeptical of minds. Each factor presented is an opportunity to reframe our approaches to life by looking solely at ourselves and using life as our curriculum.
What we all do from here matters more than ever. We can no longer sit idly by. We have to act and act together. Saturday night showed what the power of linking arms together and directing ourselves as one community can do.
Even the most sullen of people can see that what we need is community, vision, and action. Working together, no longer as individuals, but as one with the power of the good mind. We can stop looking around because we are the ones we have been waiting for. That is why we have decided to "180 out" our approach. Like we shared Saturday, when we can change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. This is how we are tackling these insurmountable challenges one life at a time.
So what are we going to be? We have two choices moving forward: to be the cause or the effect of the cause.
Which potential are we going to express in the world?
What are we involving ourselves in? How can we rebalance things? Are we honoring ourselves? What are we doing to contribute or not contribute to the world?
What are your core values?
Who is in your tribe?
What is your ritual?
One way we can let go and begin that process when we lose our way is to do something that is not just solely for the benefit of ourselves but for the benefit of helping others and the world around us.
Today, the Veteran, the American soldier, is facing an apocalyptic scenario like so much of the world. Most do not see it because it's not in your neighborhood, but it is here.
On Saturday evening, we raised more than $820,000, a sign that we are building a different community! Success looks different now, and people are beginning to see that quantitative and qualitative change on a systemic level is possible.
-Micah Fink
CEO/Founder
