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| Former President Bill Clinton Receives Presented by Forrest Church at the
The Heart and Soul Fund held its 20th Anniversary Auction on February 19th at Christie’s Auction House in New York City. The honored guest was Former President William Jefferson Clinton. The evening opened with a silent auction to benefit the Heart and Soul Fund, followed by the presentation of the Forrest Church Humanitarian Award, Bill Clinton’s acceptance speech and a live auction run by Stephen Lash, Chairman of Christie’s Americas. Kerianne Flynn, the co-chair of auction, introduced the Reverend Forrest Church and told the standing room only crowd about the genesis of the award. “Forrest Church, theologian and author, is a living profile of courage for his work in helping families and those less fortunate. In this special 20th anniversary year of the Heart and Soul Fund, we have created the Forrest Church Award for Humanitarian Service. This award will be given annually to a person who demonstrates the same courage and compassion while influencing the world in which we live for the better.” Reverend Forrest Church stood and addressed the crowd with humility, honor and grace. He stated he was glad—and somewhat surprised—to be alive to present the award in person. Since being diagnosed in 2006 with terminal esophageal cancer and given months to live, he has outlived all the doctors’ predictions and used the time to serve the community he most loves. Forrest presented the award to Bill Clinton, who began his speech with a personal story about the time he first met Forrest’s Father, the late Senator Frank Church from Idaho. Clinton described how he was struck by Frank Church’s accomplishments, reaching the senate at the young age of 32—the same age Clinton himself subsequently became governor of Arkansas. Clinton then spoke about Forrest and his many books and his exemplary work as a humanitarian. Clinton focused on Forrest’s last book, Love and Death, and told the crowd that everyone in the room should read it. He explained the book had given him renewed purpose and a reason to live each day “as if it was worth dying for.” Clinton addressed Bethine Church, Forrest’s mother, who was in the crowd, saying that she should be extremely proud of her son. He also commended Carolyn Buck Luce, Forrest’s wife, for her inspirational strength and compassion. Clinton thanked the crowd for attending the event and for being “selfish”—making the world a better place for themselves, as well as for everyone else. Clinton spoke about the mission of the Heart and Soul Fund and its importance in this interdependent world. He remarked that without the work of private individuals who bridge the gap in funding programs for the less fortunate, our world would be a far needier place today. Following his talk, Clinton expanded on this mission during an insightful Q & A session with James Flynn, Co-Chair of the Auction, adding clarity and highlighting specific examples of how people can help each other and those in need through giving. The crowd continued to be enthralled by Clinton’s remarks. The mission of the Heart and Soul Charitable Fund, Inc., is to provide aid to segments of the New York Area community who are living in marginalized situations by identifying and directly funding groups for whom small grand and ongoing involvement of the fund will make a major difference. The Fund acts as a principal source of funding, support or advice for its selected grantees and aims to build long term relationships. Proceeds raised at the Auction will fund feeding programs, youth programs, neighborhood programs and elderly services. For more information regarding the fund, please contact Bill Bechman at 212-801-3092. www.heartandsoulfund.org |
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