As our mission grew, so did the hearts of our community
The Shoulders I Stand Upon | By Big Mike Phillips
[Continued from “The Shoulders I Stand Upon,” March 2024, Volume 4, Issue 35]
After we renamed our first charity event from “Bartender’s Christmas Charity” to “Ordinary Miracles,” Bobby Haas (board president for Special Delivery at that time) shared with Nigel and I the excitement they felt over how wonderful our first event went. He especially loved how we were able to bring all the bartenders and LGBTQ bars together to participate on behalf of Special Delivery. He asked if he could help with some more ideas to enhance our already great ideas to include more businesses and people in our community.
We were glad to get the experience and feedback from Bobby. Being very new at this – even though our first event went well and made a very good impression in the community – we still had a lot to learn and loved the fact that Bobby wanted to help us.
Nigel and I realized we could not do this project by ourselves, even with Michael Lunsford’s help that first year, we knew we needed more help to expand.
So, it was then, in 1997, that we created a board of directors for Ordinary Miracles. We had the honor to include – along with Michael Lunsford – Debbie Yoakum, Fernando Lara, Chris Walsh, Tony Chiumento (he created the Ordinary Miracles logo for us), and Tom Houk as our board, who all were very loyal during our five-year history. We needed these dedicated members of our community to help move us forward.
The second year we decided to be bolder with our mission by inviting restaurants and hair salons to participate in giving back.
It was exciting. We created the first dining event for Ordinary Miracles with so many restaurants, either matching their employees’ tips or donating 10% of the entire day’s sales. Hair stylists and salons were also donating their time and 100% of the money for a haircut. It worked, our community loved that they had other ways to be present and that it included other ways to give back without going out to a bar.
As we continued to grow every year, we just kept raising more money for more charities. Special Delivery was granted an equal portion the entire five years we were in existence. Our organization grew to become one of our community’s favorite yearly events. We loved that every single individual, group, and business, could give from their hearts to those who needed it most in such an easy, fun, and loving way. We were living up to our mission.
A few of the many reasons why Ordinary Miracles became such a must-attend event, was because of the selection of food that was being donated. There were over 20 food stations, with delicious options from some of San Diego’s most favorite restaurants throughout the venue. Our silent auction was deemed impressive, filled with so many incredible items from so many amazing businesses.
One of the things our community loved most was the finale, created by the brilliant and talented Leonard Simpson of Fashion Forward. Simpson, a local fashion guru, provided New York-style runway fashion shows at the end of every event
Over the years, those fashion shows brought the house down; those shows were so mind boggling. Our event hosts every year were Kimberly Hunt of Channel 10 News and Trixie, our very own bars candy girl and performer. They were so magical together.
We were also very honored to have our very good friend, Rob Halford, the lead singer of heavy metal band Judas Priest, along with many political figures, join us every year as honorary hosts. Well over a thousand people in our community supported the events each year, joining Leonard, Kimberly, Trixie, Rob and so many others who never failed us. They were able to create so many memorable moments in those last three years of Ordinary Miracles.
No doubt it was a lot of work. The talented and creative ideas and guidance of Ferando Lara, who took charge of this major event every year, and the involvement of our board made it the go-to event of the year. Ordinary Miracles’ board of directors worked so well together, they were all angels, we were family, we loved each other. Every single board member worked hard and worked together to make sure every year was a success.
In fact, we did add a few more board members our last three years; John Brooks, Dan Navarro, Andrew Randall, and Peter Zanni, joined in and helped make things a bit easier those last years.
With the dedication and love our board had for this organization and our community, their leadership supported our vision, our compassion, and they helped bring our community together. And with that Ordinary Miracles became a reality and was very successful. We loved our community 100%; without our community involvement to help achieve our mission, this would have never become the success it was. For that I personally will always be grateful and carry this in my heart and mind forever.
Within five amazing hard-working years as a community, together we raised over $300,000. We were a human organization first and most importantly, but we also just so happened to be mostly gay. In those five years, Ordinary Miracles funded various causes, everything from AIDS/HIV, the homeless, gay youth, women’s breast cancer research, children’s hospitals, cancer research, food pantries, pets, women abuse, drug and alcohol organization, elderly groups, and so many others.
I am going to try my best to mention as many people as possible, businesses and organizations that helped make Ordinary Miracles the charity that brought our community together. One hundred percent of our organization were volunteers, made up of ordinary people to create extra-ordinary miracles to help our fellow man, no matter who they were or what they believed in. We did good with good people to help good causes. So here I go, please forgive me if I did not mention you.
First and foremost, the whole reason this even happened; a huge thanks to all our LGBTQ bartenders, bars, and their owners. Our very first sponsor, the late Michael Portantin, publisher of the Gay & Lesbian Times. Also Buzz Magazine; The Update; The Weekly; Rick Ford of All Worlds Video; Leonard Simpson of Fashion Forward; Nicole Murray Ramirez and The Imperial Court de San Diego (first and only nonprofit to financially support Ordinary Miracles); and Miller Brewing Company (first corporate beer sponsor). Edward Miller and Michael Moorehead for paying for all of our stamps, printing, and office supplies. Remember this was pre-social media, we relied on the newspapers and the U.S. mail to get the message out. They saved us thousands of dollars every year by their generosity.
Also, a couple of shout outs to California Cuisine wine tastings, hosted by Chris Walsh and Michael Lunsford; Tony Chiumento who did all our graphic designs for the paper, flyers, and programs; Tom Houk, who created one-of-a-kind art pieces for awards we gave out every year; Dr. David Littlefield’s dentist office; Robbie Cox and Dr. Greg Scott for their Slash Parties; Terra Restaurant’s BBQ dinner event; Phil Katcher and Phil Dole of North Park Travels; Steve White’s volleyball tournament; The Brass Rail’s welcome home for the holidays events; and that is just to name a few.
I am proud to say that because of the one idea Nigel came up with, within five years we brought a community together like I had never seen before. It was full of people wanting to help, contribute, volunteer, donate, and have fun doing it, all at the same time. It was ordinary people creating ordinary miracles. These are memories I will always cherish; I made so many lasting friendships that I still have to this very day.
Finally, a huge thank you to Nigel Mayer who has been one of my best friends for over 30 years. Thank you for including me with your idea. It changed not only my life, but thousands of lives that benefited from this incredible journey. To all the board members that gave of their time, money, energy, love, and compassion, your hard work paid off and helped those who needed our help.
Lastly, a huge thank you to this loving community with such abundance of compassion to ensure a better life for others. I am blessed every day to live in the best community in the world.
These are the shoulders I stand upon.
–Big Mike Phillips is a local photographer, bartender, and longtime LGBT activist and fundraiser. You can reach him at [email protected].
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