Inspire Awards honor efforts to help those with special needs
Inspiration can be found anywhere, and Easter Seals Oklahoma is looking to honor those who inspire in their own communities.
The nonprofit is introducing the Inspire Awards. For more than 90 years, Easter Seals Oklahoma has provided services to children and adults with disabilities and other special needs and support to their families.
The mission of the nonprofit is to enhance the quality of life for children and adults with disabilities so they may live with equality, dignity and independence.
In a recent interview, Development Director Lauri Monetti spoke about the upcoming Inspire Awards and the future the event will have for the community.
Q: What are the Inspire Awards?
A: We’ve had an event called Blast from the Past for about nine years. It’s what you think of with a special event with a silent live auction and dancing. We really wanted to have something that matched more with our mission, so we came up with the Inspire Awards. We wanted to honor people, organizations and individuals in the community who we felt really did a lot on the behalf of children and adults with disabilities; who we thought were an inspiration to us.
Q: When and where is the event?
A: The event is Oct. 15 at Science Museum Oklahoma. Q: How much are tickets?
A: Individual tickets are $150, and tables of eight are $1,500. For ticket and sponsorship opportunities, people can go to www. inspireawards.eventbrite.com or call 239-2525. Sponsorships are still available! Q: Who is being honored?
A: We are honoring Homeland stores. They have been a supporter of Easter Seals Oklahoma for as long as Homeland has been in Oklahoma. They do a lot for us financially and volunteer-wise.
We’re also honoring Robert Salinas, M.D., who is a doctor with OU Physicians. He also teaches students about geriatrics and brings over University of Oklahoma medical students every year. He really believes in what we do in our adult day center and champions that to our
next-generation doctors.
We’re also honoring LeadingAge Oklahoma, which is a nonprofit advocacy group, and its director Mary Brinkley. She works on behalf of not-forprofit nursing homes, adult day centers and other organizations that support the aging population. She also keeps us abreast of anything that might affect us from the Capitol that the Legislature might be working on.
Q: What will happen at the event?
A: We won’t be having an auction or anything like that. It’s family focused on honoring those people. All the money we raise will be coming from table sponsorships and ticket sales. It’s our one main fundraiser for the year, so all the money we raise from this will support all the different services we provide.
We will have a small reception beforehand with our honorees and lead sponsors so they can get to know each other. We’ll have a small jazz quartet from University of Central Oklahoma playing while guests have cocktails and appetizers. Then we will have the actual sit-down dinner at 7 for all of our other guests, where we will share stories and video presentations and honor our honorees.
Q: Why is this event important for Easter Seals?
A: It’s very important for us to have this be a successful event, not just to honor these people for the work they have done in the community, but also to financially support us. We want to continue providing the programs and services at the level we do.
It’s going to be different, but we’re excited about it. This matches more of our mission. In the future we want to take nominations from the community and see who they feel like is an inspiration.