The Joy of Watching it All Come Together

It was that moment where the anxiety started to melt away – where everybody knew this thing was going to come off without a hitch.

On Saturday, early in the morning, a group of young volunteers gathered in Watkinsville and went over the routine. Their goal: to know the songs, the motions, and the moves better than the young contestants who would be arriving soon. – showing off their abilities, celebrating them for their gifts, and raising money to keep providing the programs that enhance their lives – but it would be nothing without the help of our volunteers.

What can you call it when a group of mostly college students are willing to be somewhere at 8 on a Saturday morning just to help out? Dedication is what we call it.

By the time our youngest Big Hearts contestants arrived at 10 a.m. to rehearse, the volunteers were ready to teach the routines to the kids.

When everyone is on stage this Saturday performing together, singing songs and dancing to the music, the volunteers will be there helping guide things along. But, when all goes as planned, you don't even notice the volunteers. They meld seamlessly into everything else, and it's all eyes on the kids.

While the volunteers were running things at the , parents and volunteers gathered just up the road at the , creating set dressing for the pageant.

There was glitter, spray glue, cardboard, glitter, flowers, craft moss, and glitter all in ready supply (did I mention there was glitter?).

Parents chatted as they assembled set pieces, talking about their children's challenges, what they had gotten out of ESP, resources they didn't even know were available. It's amazing what happens when you bring a group of people together for a common purpose – they get so many additional things out of being able to chat and share their experiences.

By about 12:30, as more parents were arriving to help, work was wrapping up. Tasks that would have taken all weekend for two or three people to accomplish were knocked out in the space of a few hours thanks to additional hands.

Don't you love it when that happens?

Work continues now, printing programs, reaching out to additional members of the media to share the night, assembling silent auction displays – and it will continue up until the very moment when the curtain opens, and everyone pauses and takes a little gasp of joy over what unfolds on the stage.

Speaking of those silent auction items, have we mentioned what awesome stuff we have for auction this year?

There's an adorable set of Disney child's size luggage, jewelry from Tena's downtown (can you say “Valentine's gift”?), a gift basket from Entourage Clothing and Gifts, golf foursomes at a handful of local country clubs, tickets to see Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker in June, signed Colt Ford CD's, a football autographed by the entire Crimson Tide BCS championship football team, an overnight stay at the Foundry Park Inn & Spa in Athens and concert tickets to the Melting Point, restaurant gift cards to local favorites like The National and Last Resort (YUM!) and tickets to the Georgia Aquarium. And that right there is a short list!

Meanwhile, we are all set on the volunteers we need for the night of the pageant – they'll be working jobs like manning the auction room, selling t-shirts, and pointing people to the elevators.

So, all that leaves for us to worry about is... you!

People keep asking how they can help out.

At this point, what we want to see is your smiling faces in that audience. Help us out by cheering on the kids and emphasizing to them what a powerful and positive force they are in the community.

Because that's what Big Hearts .

The show starts at 7 p.m., this Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Classic Center in downtown Athens. To learn more, visit our website or Facebook. Get your tickets at the Classic Center box office or online at classiccenter.com.