The 4th Annual Sophia’s Heart Gala!
The annual Sophia’s Heart Gala is ALL about the kids it supports in its 5th year as a Music and Arts Program in Danny Gokey’s hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first gala occurred in 2012 with 150 participants; predominantly fans.
This year’s 4th Gala was bursting at the seams with ~350 participants, most of them associated with one of the almost 30 corporate sponsors! The event includes silent and live auctions, cocktail reception, and dinner. Danny Gokey performed a few of his songs from his albums solo, but the bulk of the night’s entertainment was the kids opening, joining Danny and ending the night’s entertainment with their high energy dances and songs. For the first time in three years (according to Danny) he performed his first single, “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me”.
The venue was not conducive for good pictures, but here’s a couple. The first is of Danny prepping the kids prior to their performance. The second, the band including Joshua Lutz, Maestro Lightford, Eric Ramey and Jeff Pegues. The last picture could be labeled “Where is Danny?” We could have used him wearing Waldo’s stocking cap to spot him a very full stage!
Also performed by Danny was the theme of the night “Love Will Take You Places”. Thanks to Lori Castilleja for these videos!
The following picture was taken from the night’s program. It gives an outline of the event:
One of the highlights for Ed and I was spending the evening with family and the people we’ve met through Danny over these last 6 years. Thanks for the fun and hugs to Val, Karen, Lori, Kathy, Cori, Dave, Joyce, Nicole, Marel, Ana & Leyicet. To support Sophia’s Heart you can visit their website HERE.
Nice post Jan, and glad to see Sophia’s Heart has grown such a strong base of support in Milwaukee! :star: <3
Danny is sounding good in both videos, good to hear My Best Days again
Admin2, there is a lot of support to Danny and SHF in Milwaukee!
I have added two more videos (Thanks to Lori!) of the event.
I miss seeing so many of the fans that use to return to the Gala in Milwaukee to support SHF. I think the corporate support is really where SHF needed to go, but hanging out at this “party” with other fans was so much fun!
It was also a more “intimate” experience when there was only 150 people! I will never forget how much fun I had steering Danny around the VIP event for the first Gala. SHF was nearly an ALL volunteer organization way back then….
It was the first Gala without Michelle. She gave SO much to SHF. Also, after 5 years, Jeff has resigned as the choir director. Jeff was AMAZING with the kids. He will be very difficult to replace.
Thank you, Jan and Lori. It’s always fun to hear about an event. I’m glad things went well.
Were there live musicians for this, or Danny and the SH choir performing to a track?
I included a picture of the band members in my post, Admin2. 😉 The pictures were small (I never know how the gallery of photos are going to display in wordpress…). Just click on them to see them in a larger view.
The choir sings to a track, and Danny has one also. But it was nice to see Josh, Maestro, Jeff and Eric.
Thanks so much for the video’s and letting us know what is going on with Sophia’s Heart!
Our pleasure, Janet! Thanks for stopping in!
Cindy, glad you liked the post. They can be tedious to write…. but I have come to look at them as my own journal of my Danny events 😉
This year I did help with fund raising for SHF. I was glad to bring in Culver’s, The Shops of Grand Avenue and Chick fil a.
Congratulations, Jan.
I appreciate all your time keeping us informed. It’s always fun to read your posts. 🙂