Award Acceptance Speech
Thank you. This means a great deal to me, and I'm honored to be recognized alongside so many people doing meaningful work.
I want to thank PASV and the Atlanta Business Club for this recognition, and for supporting the kind of work that doesn't always make headlines but changes lives one child at a time. I also want to thank our incredible local staff in Peru, and the volunteers who've helped us launch our English school — this work doesn't happen without you.
But mostly, I want to tell you about Antony.
When we were first setting up our music school in Peru, I taught piano myself — starting with the basics, the notes, A through G. Antony could barely get through them. His fingers fumbled, he lost his place, he'd start over again and again.
But I saw something in his eyes. A spark. This was something he wanted.
Later, the orphanage director told me Antony wasn't a "school kid." He struggled with math, science, language — the classroom just wasn't built for him. But at the piano, he was someone else entirely. He hung on every word I said. He tried, and tried again, just to get one note right.
"That's the moment I understood what we're actually building. It's not a music program. It's a place where a kid who's been told he doesn't fit anywhere finally finds the one place he does."
This award isn't mine — it belongs to every staff member and volunteer who's taught a kid like Antony, and to every kid like Antony who taught us why this work matters.
We're growing now, from music into English education too — more kids, more opportunities, more sparks waiting to be found. Thank you for helping us get there.