A fundraising concert with Ensemble Charité
I’ll never forget how nervous and excited I felt when we first announced the debut of our Giving Meals program at our restaurant, The Preservery, back in December of 2020. We had this crazy idea, during one of the craziest times we had ever experienced (remember 2020?!), to enable our guests to purchase meals for people experiencing homelessness and we would make and deliver those meals to our neighbors in need who were camping in and around Five Points. We had no idea if we would be able to get our community to support this initiative, and we weren’t going to be able to make it work without them.
Thankfully, the response was amazing. In just that first week we had colleagues, friends and family not only from the Denver community but also from all over the country, from New York to California, calling the restaurant and offering to contribute. One such memorable phone call was from Yumi Hwang-Williams, the Concertmaster at The Colorado Symphony. We had become friends with her during Obe’s seven years working in development at the symphony. She not only made a generous contribution to our Giving Meals program that day but also offered to help us raise money with a fundraising concert. I was totally floored by her generosity, and it was the support of Yumi and so many others in our community that helped set Obe and I on this path toward starting The Preservery Foundation in the fall of 2022.
So, here we are, almost three years later, finally doing a fundraising concert with Yumi to raise money for Giving Meals! She has been doing amazing work of her own, which also started during the pandemic, serving as the Board Chair for a nonprofit called Ensemble Charité. We are partnering with them to present this world-class chamber music concert, Stories in Song, featuring Ensemble Charité’s Executive Director and renowned mezzo soprano Michelle de Young.
The concert will be performed at the Central Presbyterian Church. Tickets are available for $25 or just $10 for seniors, veterans and students. We are so thrilled to rally our community together once again, not just in support of hunger relief but also to enjoy some truly beautiful chamber music. Won’t you join us?
