It was the kind of night you know will stay with you for a while, for a thousand different reasons. But the most significant is one I didn’t expect; a comment made so casually in a quick moment it might easily have gone unnoted; a fleeting bit of small talk passed between two acquaintances, just one of hundreds of layers of cocktail chatter.

But it didn’t disappear, her comment to me. It couldn’t, in that place, with those people.

All our candles together burn brighter, she said, and she smiled and turned to walk away.

It was a night in which we were to be honored—the volunteers of CreateAthon and those of us who started the whole thing 15 years ago—by The Cooperative Ministry, an organization that works tirelessly to meet the needs of the working poor in our community. The Cooperative Ministry was recognizing us for our philanthropic work with nonprofits over these past 15 years.

I was deeply grateful. And I was humbled, to be sure, recognizing how much more significant the work is of those who were doing the honoring. I said as much to Yolanda, who works with The Cooperative Ministry, standing there with me at the bar. We should be honoring you, I said.

All our candles together burn brighter, she said.

And so I smiled, too, and walked back toward the celebration.

My business partner, friend and CreateAthon co-founder Teresa Coles on the left. I'm on the right. It was a Good Night.

30 Days of Grace