All About the Giving

The 2020 Giving Circle Compassion Awards

On the Cover: Kim Klopstock and her staff from Lily and the Rose Catering join hands, and ask the audience to do so at the beginning of the awards ceremony. Photo: Arthur Gonick. All other photos: Cathy Duffy

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A little soundtrack to get the party started – from our friends at Rural Soul Music Studio in Schuylerville:

Now that we have set the table, let me say that this event is worthy of your attention – be you a frequent gala-goer, or one who attends things less often. We, in this City and Region, have many excellent Not-for-profit organizations that serve a locally-based constituency. Incredible missions that service a client base here at home.

In these cases, we feel that this is how things should be: By and large, when we donate, we want to know that our contributions are making an impact close to home – even if the issue is one (e.g.: Poverty or Health) that extends well beyond Saratoga Springs’ borders. It is the embodiment of the expression: Think Globally; Act Locally.

But The Giving Circle is different. And this is how:

They have client populations based in two areas:

Saratoga Springs, and
Planet Earth

Indeed, with projects and initiatives that ripple out from Saratoga and impact places as far-flung as Texas, Uganda, and Afghanistan, their mission is to Think AND Act; Both Locally AND Globally – in a way that reminds us all that we are but one humanity occupying one planet.

It was in that spirit that a festive gathering assembled at The Canfield Casino, on the evening of Thursday, January 16. They came to celebrate the compassionate spirit that resides in all of us; and to honor the exemplary dedication that is demonstrated each day, by the recipients of The Giving Circle’s 2020 Compassion Awards:

Honorary Chairs: Ed & Lisa Mitzen

Local Individual Resident who displays the embodiment of compassion: Bo Goliber

Local Non-Profit who displays the embodiment of compassion: SNACpack

Founders Award whose lifetime of actions displays the embodiment of compassion: AC Reilly

TGC US-based team member whose actions internationally displays the embodiment of compassion: Jim Wilhite

Serge Shishik Memorial Award whose actions locally displays the embodiment of compassion: Mike Gyarmathy

TGC Uganda-based team member whose actions display the embodiment of compassion: Lydia Kadama

Enjoy the gallery, and make plans to join them next year. I feel confident in saying that those who attended this evening have already done so.