A Visión That More Must See…

LifeWorks Community Action’s Photo Expo Event – ‘Estamos Aqui’ (‘We Are Here’) – is the Best Thing you May Have Never Heard Of

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A little bit of advocacy here, folks….

If there is one event that you should add to your summer dance card – this is it.

Year after year, since 2006 in fact, LifeWorks Community Action (formerly Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council <EOC>) has been putting on this little jewel of an event. An event that I have witnessed people powerfully affected by – brought to tears, in fact, in several cases.

And yet, year after year, when I tell people – people who attend many summer events and galas, people who help to put them on, people who should know what is going on here – that I am attending Visión – I get this response too often: “What is that?” they say.

This must change.

Now, I don’t mean to imply that this event occurred in an empty room – far from it. Last Tuesday’s (August 9th) event had a very nice turnout at Longfellows – particularly since stormy weather concerns prompted LifeWorks to move the event, on one day’s notice, from it’s normal outdoor setting at the Saratoga Racecourse due to stormy weather concerns. Kudos to Longfellows (who is the host for other of LifeWorks’ gatherings) for stepping up to the plate on short notice, like they always seem to…

….and further kudos to the attendees who migrated to tonight’s setting. One could imagine they would have moved to the Town of Providence, or even Providence, RI, to be sure to make this event and honor those who participated (see list above.)

You may, in fact recognize members of our community from the photos in this post. Don’t take my word for it. Ask them why they made a point to attend Visión!

I’ll go one final step further, for the best ammo for my advocacy is the exhibits themselves. LifeWorks has curated the previous exhibits, going back to 2006, on a website for you called www.EstamosAquiSaratoga.com

Estamos Aqui translates to “We are here,” and if you are looking for the answer to the question: Why should I attend this event in 2023, well, Here We Are! The Best Thing you May Have Never Heard Of, Ladies and Gents.

Now again, none of this is to say that anyone is doing a poor job here. LifeWorks is doing the best they can to fulfill its multi-faceted mission with tight resources (see their WEBSITE for all they offer) and have not been blessed with a bunch of pro bono marketing help. But there is hope going forward.

Right after this event I was contacted by Sharon at Borgos Marketing to say they will be working with LifeWorks on some social media and other initiatives, so it will be my pleasure to share photos with them to help Visión increase its visibility. And certainly, recently adding Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim to their Board cannot help but help.

And they have me, for what it’s worth. All in.

Estoy aquí. ¡Y tú también deberías estarlo! (I am here. And you should be, too!)

Enjoy the gallery.

{{Editor’s Note: Warm congratulations to retiring LifeWorks Executive director Jo Anne Hume, and best wishes to Deputy Director Krystle Nowhitney Hernandez, who was promoted to Executive Director on this evening.}}

Arthur Gonick – August 14, 2022

Gallery: Visión – A Look at Life Behind the Scenes