A week and a half ago, Liam Dodds sauntered across the Chive Charities Green Gala stage in front of 800 Chivers, donning the biggest smile of his life. For some, smiles come as naturally as breathing. The average person smiles anywhere between 20 and 100 times per day. For children, that number is closer to 400! Since he was a child, though, Liam’s smile has been harder to see.
(to see all Green Gala event images, scroll to the bottom of this post)
That’s because for most of his life Liam has had CRPS, commonly referred to as the “suicide disease,” leaving him to experience higher pain than kidney stones or child birth without anesthesia. And for people like Liam, that pain .
But before we get to Liam’s unlikely smile on the stage that night, we first must set the backdrop for the Chive Charities 10th Anniversary Green Gala weekend.
The weekend started as it always does, with hundreds of Gold, Silver, and Bronze coin holders as well as Bill Murry NFT 1000 holders raising a glass out at Starhill Ranch for the annual GSB dinner.
Friday saw Chive Nation admins from all over the country take over CHIVE HQ for a happy hour to celebrate their work in building a community which raises tens of thousands each year for causes in need.
Matthew posted a great recap yesterday highlighting both of these events and you can find that recap HERE.
Which brings us to the main event, the Chive Charities Green Gala at Fair Market in Austin, TX. For our tenth anniversary, we had to go classy. Our Old Hollywood theme was perfect for the occasion. (Thanks to Doug at Amazing Ice Designs for the sculpture!)
Which brings us to the main event, the Chive Charities Green Gala at Fair Market in Austin, TX. For our tenth anniversary, we had to go classy. Our Old Hollywood theme was perfect for the occasion. (Thanks to Doug at Amazing Ice Designs for the sculpture!)
Over 20 Chive Charities recipients were in attendance this year. One of the truly unique experiences of attending the gala is meeting the individuals who have inspired us to make the world a better place.
Recipients like David, a Veteran and life-long Chiver with severe axonal polyneuropathy with a muscle wasting component. Back in June, you helped get him an ADA van for $44,482.
The Green Gala wouldn’t be possible without our incredible sponsors covering all our costs. AMS Vans – our mobility partner – has become integral to what we do at Chive Charities. With over $200,000 in van discounts to date, our AMS Vans wall highlighted the over 100 vehicles they’ve helped us gift to recipients in need. Special shout out to Dallas (pictured above with the Chive Charities team) and his team who make it all possible.
It also wouldn’t be a Green Gala without our incredible alcohol sponsors giving us far too much booze for 800 people to consume in one night. But darnit if we didn’t try. A huge thank you to Frankly Organic Vodka, WhistlePig, Blue Norther, Resign Wine, and Family Business Brewing.
This is Steven Scott, a long-time time chiver with Friedreich’s Ataxia. We last saw him down in Key West for CXSE 4, Chivers helped show him the time of his life. Not only that, they also helped raise funds for a $13,200 Chive Charities grant toward a lift seat and an easy stow device so Steven can once again use his truck to get around.
Keopix donated two killer photo booths – including their 360, matrix-style video booth.
Seth Ringley and his team at TripleG Relief, a past Chive Charities recipient, has become a yearly staple at Green Gala, serving their delicious barbecue.
This is Trent Felder. A severe case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome landed him in a wheelchair and led doctors to doubt whether he’d ever walk again. Back in September 2019, you helped get him life-saving medical treatments for a year for $13,500. He’s been attending the Green Gala and dancing with us ever since.
We headed back indoors to get to the heart of the Green Gala festivities.
The tireless Chive Charities team was introduced. Without their passion and dedication to our community and recipients, there would be no Chive Charities.
John took the stage to raise a glass to everyone in the room, while remembering his grandfather, a WWII vet who had passed away days earlier.
And then it was time for the highlight of the evening, the release of our Green Gala video. Normally, our video highlights all the impact from the previous year. But being our 10th anniversary, we wanted to highlight the 555 recipients and over $19 million in aid that you’ve made possible in one video.
As is tradition, there were plenty of grown-man tears.
Tears of sadness and tears of joy. To see the video, and perhaps to shed a few tears yourself, you can find it posted below.
The stage was finally set for Liam’s moment.
Minutes before I called Liam’s name to come on stage, he told me that he was in a dark place only months before. It was Chive Charities and Chive Nation that had pulled him up from the depths and changed his life forever. He was in desperate need of $45,000 to get him into state-of-the-art CRPS corrective care. It was his last shot before potentially becoming a statistic of the “suicide disease” himself. It was a grant that you helped us give him and a small price to pay to give Liam his life back. “A few weeks into treatment, I experienced the most incredible thing,” Liam told me just steps away from the stage. “All of the sudden, it was as if someone switched the pain off.” After 6 years of not being able to go outside, take a shower, or even clip his toenails due to passing out from the pain, it was all suddenly gone.
“It was one of the best moments of my life,” Liam told me later. “I’ll remember walking across that stage for the rest of my days.”
And that’s the backdrop of the Green Gala. Of course, there was alcohol, dancing, and delicious food. But at the heart of it all, there is a community coming together to take away the pain for those who have nowhere else to turn. A community that replaces that unending pain with HOPE. That’s what YOU do and that’s what Chive Charities is all about.
You can become a part of the movement to switch off the pain, bring hope, and add thousands more unlikely smiles to those who have been in the darkness for years by becoming a monthly donor HERE. Sign up today so you can be a part of everything at next year’s gala.
Enjoy the Green Gala video that gutted over 800 of us in the room that night.
You can also view all 400 photos from the event on our event page HERE.
