Way back when I was a young student organizer working on the National Coordinating Committee for United Students for Fair Trade, one of our core values as an organization was celebration. I didn’t quite get it at the time, but my mentors and colleagues assured me that if we didn’t explicitly state that “we celebrate each success, large and small,” we’d get lost in the overwhelming nature of our work and lose hope that we’re actually making change.
It turns out they weren’t the only organization that understood the importance of celebration—CCMU believes just as strongly in celebrating progress, both large and small. As many of you know, this year we have a big reason to celebrate: we’re 15 years old! And Tuesday night, we threw a bash fifteen years in the making—CCMU’s Celebrating the Journey anniversary party.
Nearly 170 of our nearest and dearest friends came together at the Space Gallery to reminisce about old times, celebrate our shared accomplishments, and recognize 15 health champions who’ve gone above and beyond in their dedication to issues facing the medically underserved. Awardees included Governor Ritter and Governor Lamm, city and state officials and policymakers, health care leaders from around the state, and dedicated health care providers.
With so much to celebrate in fifteen years of hard but important work, we felt we needed a couple different ways to capture it all. In addition to the party, we put together a nifty retrospective that includes a timeline of big events in our history, as well as a video of the people who know us best telling our story.
In addition to honoring the people, passion, and product of CCMU's past, this event gave us the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our goals, and capture the energy to continue the journey. The night was capped off by a festive Mariachi band and, of course, a group chant led by our president and founder, Dr. Gary VanderArk. Say it with me now…
We can! We must! We will!
Want to see photos from the event? You can find them in our new event photo gallery!
