Our daughter Ashleigh Elissa Cromer Hayes who serves as President of the "Be Strong" initiative to STOP bullying held a "Be Strong LIVE Tour" event on the morning of March 30th at the Louisville Palace. My husband and I were so proud of her and all of her efforts along with her team to pull off this amazing program which will touch lives now and long into the future one person at a time. Bullying is at epidemic proportions and young people are even taking their lives because of it.
My camera was in non-working order and so I had to rely on my very simple cell phone to get any photographs to share.
Linkin Bridge... is a musical group from Louisville, Ky
whose hope is to inspire unity in a world divided by social and cultural difference.
I was fortunate enough to get to meet and collect a hug from three of the four members...what swell guys. The group made it all the way to the start of the finals of the famed show "America Got Talent", but didn't get enough votes to win, though they did have my vote~
Jessie Funk, guest speaker from Utah, and shown in the center image of mosaic below is a motivational speaker who loves to hang out with young humans! She has authored 5 books (one of which is specifically for teens) and she has released 5 award-winning albums which makes her presentations fun and musical!
Mary McMahon guest speaker bottom left in mosaic below says that her goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of others. She flew to the event all the way from Alaska. President of Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals and also of the Alaska Administrators. Mary is committed to inspire excellence in school leadership.
Cassandra Webb is on the far right and works with the Louisville Urban League. Their mission is: To be a catalyst for change and the best social justice organization in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after you have read the narratives~
I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:
Saturday's Critter
Anni at:
http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/
&
Stewart for:
To watch a very brief clip from the event, copy and paste this link below and click on the site~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhqn83lg0y4
My youngest daughter Ashleigh and Miss Jean who helped make this event so special~
Miss Jean and a friend to both of us...Cathy~
The venue is called The Louisville Palace and it opened in 1928 until the 70's as a first run movie palace. After decades of operating as a Cinema house, a bright new future began for The Louisville Palace in the early 90's when investors undertook a multi - million dollar restoration to recreate the opulence which had been the hallmark of this architectural treasure~
Roy Moore on the right is the founder of "Be Strong" and what a great soul he is too. We got to do a little bit of meet and greet after the event~
My husband and I on the far upper right, daughter Ashleigh center, Miss Jean and her friend Sherry, as well as my daughter Brittany and her little girl Maci make up this mosaic...
Oh yes and that is me on the left ;)
It is such a small world in that the lovely lady in purple is Jo Ross a Fashion Expert as well as the PR person for the team and dear friends to Miss Jean for many years... Jo also happened to attend the same school that I did in the East end of Louisville, back in the sixties~
After the program we all had opportunity to meet the young men from Linkin Bridge and Miss Jean even got a bow and a kiss on her hand...needless to say we were all thrilled~
We needed to borrow flag poles and stands for the event and when Miss Jean mentioned going to Waggener High School to pick up 3... I was delighted. That is where my husby and I met going on 54 years ago and it was a real treat to get to enter those halls after such a long time~
Each day that I would travel into Louisville for meetings, or to spend time with Ashleigh I would also stop by the Bald Eagle nest site. They are feeding young Eaglets, though I don't know how many yet, as they are still too small to see from the nest rim~
