Lipstick & Legacy
This podcast is all about women who serve to build better communities and the legacy we’re all building—one story at a time.”
Lipstick & Legacy
Michelle Blanchard; Stronger Together
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Michelle Blanchard was born and raised in Las Vegas and loves this community. Her family has been here for 5 generations! Michelle is a wife and mother to four children. She grew up dancing and performing from a young age.
She danced at Brigham Young University in her college days, enjoyed teaching dance, and helped direct different events. Now she serves as the Communication Director working with different faiths in the community to find common ground with the goal of making our community more united. She believes that we are stronger together. She also works with Justserve.org and local politicians to host service projects in the valley.
Welcome to Lipstick and Legacy, a podcast where your story matters and your journey has purpose. Together we lift and inspire our communities one story at a time. Welcome, Michelle.
SPEAKER_01Hello.
SPEAKER_00Today we have Michelle Blanchard, and I would like to say the theme of this episode, after looking over her bio, is Stronger Together, Building Unity Through Service. Yes. I felt like that was a really good theme. So, Michelle, we were just talking about this. You are a fifth generation Nevada.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. My family's been here for a very long, a very long time on both sides, my mom and my dad's side.
SPEAKER_00So that is incredible. I'm fourth generation, and my kids would be fifth generation. And that is almost an unheard of um anomaly, I guess, out here in the West.
SPEAKER_03Yes, most people are transplants. So when they hear that I grew up here, they're like, what? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I know. I talk to women and they're like, I've been here since 2016. And I'm like, okay, you're not old school, I promise. Um what was it like growing up here in Las Vegas?
SPEAKER_03I love Las Vegas. This is my home. I love the community here. Um, I feel like even though it's a huge city and our school district is huge, it's still like a close-knit community. And you know, you end up meeting people and they know someone, and it's like a family. It's a family here. And I love that it's it's really mixed with different religions and ethnicities, and a lot of people from different parts of the world and all over the country, they try their transplants here, and I love that. I love the mix of people.
SPEAKER_00So, do you have a childhood memory of living in the desert that really stands out to you?
SPEAKER_03Actually, yes. So, because it's the desert, it floods here. We have flash floods, and now, you know, they've built these underground tunnels to to make it so the water drains and it doesn't flood. But when I was growing up, we didn't have those. So when it rained, it would flood. And so we had billboards and there were advertisements, and I remember, you know, they would say, you know, this is in the life raft, and it showed people floating down the street on the car or whatever. Um, but we actually did do that. We would get inner tubes and we would float down the street when it would rain, and it was feet, feet deep. Yep, and we would just go tubing down the street, and we loved it.
SPEAKER_00So we did that too, and we called it Lake Lindell because I was raised on Lindell and Sahara. And people don't realize in the desert there's these natural waterways that kind of develop when it rains, and there's homes that have been built in those natural waterways. And so it's really interesting those streets fill up like dry water beds. Those are really great memories. Tell me a little bit about your family. You're a wife, a mother of four, and how has motherhood influenced the way that you serve?
SPEAKER_03Um, so first about my my family. Yes. Um, so I am a wife, my husband's name is Deloitte, and he grew up in the inner city of Seattle. So we had um similar back uh backgrounds, childhoods, but also different being in the city, different income, different atmosphere that he grew up in. So we brought two different things to the table when we came together. And we have four kids. Uh, my oldest is gone out of the house, he's in college, and my second is about to leave in four months, and that has put me in a different face, different emotions, different, you know, it's a whole different ballgame than having little kids. And then I have a freshman in high school and then uh one little girl who's a fifth grader.
SPEAKER_00Oh nice. And how does that shape the way that you serve? Why do you feel like having a family motivates you to serve in our community?
SPEAKER_03Um, I think one of the biggest reasons why I like serving and I I like to have my kids see me serve is because nowadays kids struggle with, you know, um depression, anxiety, apathy. Um you know, they're just bombarded with online, the things they see online, and and the world seems heavy to them. And so I feel like serving in the community will help my children. I think them just watching that and then them participating with me when they come, it opens their eyes to a whole different perspective, and then it puts their problems and their worries in perspective. And so hopefully they'll realize how grateful they should be, even though they do have hard things and they do go through trials. But when they see the need in the community and others uh situations, you know, hopefully they'll think, you know, life will go on if I didn't make the team, or I might not feel popular at school, or whatever it is. Hopefully they'll just be able to think, you know, there's kids downtown who don't have a family, or you know, there's people that don't have food.
SPEAKER_00And so I feel like kids who live in, you know, middle upper class, they have different problems than maybe a child who's homeless or don't have their immediate needs met. And so it always makes them more grateful for the things that they do have, which I think is a really great lesson for kids to learn. When you think about the values your family passed down through five generations here, what stands out the most? Um it's a thread.
SPEAKER_03Yes, lots of things. Service for sure. My mom's parents, Barry, his name's Barrett, that's my middle son's or my last son's name, that's who he's named after. Barrett and Joyce Wasden are my mom's parents, and they served endlessly. Um I can't remember exactly, but they had something like 35 people live in their home with them of all different walks of life, all different ages, kids who didn't have a home, um, pe people who had lost their job and were just down and out and needed a hand, you know. Um kids that were just on their own and didn't have support. Anyways, the stories at their funeral of people that came that we didn't even know that said I lived with them for a year, I lived with them for five years, and they they helped me get back on my feet. It was it's such an inspiration.
SPEAKER_00So that's been handed down to you. I think that might be like a generational thing. We always had people living at our house when I was growing up, and now I just have my older adult children coming back. But we always we always had random like people. I don't even know why now looking back. So I think that's maybe a generational thing.
SPEAKER_03It's funny when you're a kid, you don't even really think about it that there's somebody in the house. You don't think what that entails? Yes. But then once you're a woman and a mom, you're like, wow, yes. What my mom was doing behind the scenes to make that happen, the extra laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, you know, the extra drives to drive someone somewhere that needed help, wow, you know.
SPEAKER_00So it says here that you grew up and um dancing and performing at a very young age. How does that shape you into the things that you're doing today? Did that have any um influence on you?
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah, I think I got to meet a lot of people and different people, you know, we all were different, but we liked dance and performing. And so I think that taught me to just love meeting people, and I do. I genuinely love to meet people and talk to people and get to know them and find like dance was our common ground, even though we were from different walks of life, and I I think it's the same, even though you know it might be somebody's a different religion or you know, whatever it is, but I just love meeting people and talking to people.
SPEAKER_00It says here that you danced at um Brig Brigham Young University, which is BYU. What was that experience like? Were you on a dance team? Like, I know that that's a really high-level experience. Can you tell me about that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so um in high school, I I danced at a studio and we competed all over and performed and and I love dance. And I had a dream of going to New York or LA, and my mom, in her wisdom, said, you know, you just have to do a year at BYU, go to college, you know, and then you can go pursue your dream dreams or whatever. And I was a huge BYU fan, anyways. Um, it's in our blood. So I went up to BYU, I got a dance scholarship, and um I performed with their folk team up there because that's who gave me my scholarship. And it's a wonderful school. I love that school. And I think the best thing about BYU is that they teach no matter what you're getting a degree in, it could be the arts, medicine, engineering, whatever it is. How are you gonna take this and go out into the community and serve? Go forth and serve is their motto. And so even their dance program, they would use that to go out and teach people about God or teach people about you know loving one another. And so I love that.
SPEAKER_00So they really carried that message outside of just the university. It's like, here you've learned these things, now go and take them and do something with them. And I love that. You spent time teaching dance and helping direct events. Did you realize um at the time that your early experiences and these experiences were preparing you for leadership roles?
SPEAKER_03Not at all. No, I didn't think twice about it. Yeah, I would just, you know, I got asked, um, and it's funny, looking back when you asked me to do this interview, I you know, I started thinking about all the different things, and I had kind of forgotten that my freshman year at BYU, I was in um an advanced ballet and jazz class, and there was this girl in there, and she ended up approaching me, and she said, Hey, I do some community service at this low-income school here in I think it was an Oram. Um, and she was getting married and moving on out of town, and she's like, I just want somebody to take over. And she's like, I've been watching you, and I think you'd be really great. Um, you know, I'm a poor student, I needed money, but it was just a volunteer thing, but I it just kind of piqued my interest. So I was like, okay, so I went to this low-income school in the community and got to, it was an after-school program for you know, parents that were still at work and the kids were there, and I got to go teach them dance, and it was so fun. But looking back now, it was just this little thing I didn't think much about. I did it for a few months, my freshman year at BYU. And and now I'm like, you know what, that kind of lit a little seed, a little fire, you know, planted a little seed and and little things like that. But yeah, looking back, I'm like, oh yeah, and directing plays and and little things for churches. And when we were in grad school in the Bay Area, they asked me to um help direct a roadshow for all the youth there in the Bay Area. And yeah, I didn't think I just thought, oh, this is because my dance background, you know, but now helping put on big, large-scale community events, all those things did help me, you know, learn how to manage people and work with people and and see a need. And yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think that's really interesting how when something is meant to be our work, our life's work, and when we think about our life's work, it's what we do for per with purpose, right? Is our life filled or is our life filled with purpose? And I feel the same way. I remember being in um college at Southern Utah University, and I was very young. I might have been 19 years old, and I was the young women's leader. And I remember interviewing them. And I remember loving doing it. And I was thinking about the that the other day as I was doing one of these interviews. I'm like, it's funny how God gives us these lines upon line, precept on precept, that build us to live our lives with purpose. For sure. It's really cool.
SPEAKER_03You don't even realize he's he's working on you all along the way. And then looking back, you're like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_03He prepped me.
SPEAKER_00So interesting. So let's switch gears a little bit. Today you serve as a communications director working with different faith groups in the community. Can you tell us what that role looks like, what you're doing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So um in my church, I'm the communications director over a geographical area. So not the whole church, just a certain area. And my purpose, the mission behind this job or this calling is to build bridges in the community between different faiths, different um faith groups and different um government organizations and different nonprofit organizations, and then just people in the community. And we really believe that the the community will be, if we're more united and and we find common ground with one another, we'll be a stronger, better community. And and it takes all those different areas. It takes churches and politicians and schools and parents and community members and businesses to work together, you know, to have a strong community where everybody feels welcome and like it's a happy, good, positive place that families want to come.
SPEAKER_00In a world that often highlights differences, you focus on finding common ground. Why is that important to you?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think a lot of times with the media and the news, you know, there's you just see fighting and bickering. But I have found with this job that there we have so much in common. Even if um we're from different faiths, you know, everybody wants to love their neighbor. And we all want a safe community, and we all want our kids to be happy and to get a good education. Um, and small businesses want it to be a safe community for their business to prosper, and and politicians play a huge part in that because the laws and the you know, the things that pass affect all of those things. And so I feel like if we can all find things that we have in common, then you know we can work together. And there is so much common ground, so much.
SPEAKER_00What have you learned about people of different faith traditions through this work?
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh. Okay, so you might notice I have on a ring, Hesed, it's in Hebrew, and I have on a cross. And some people of my faith are like, what do you you know, what is that? And I just have learned to love different backgrounds and and a lot of our roots go back to the same holy land and the same core values. And so I just I feel like I have learned to feel the Holy Spirit or or God's presence when I'm when I'm talking to my friends at Hadi Krishna or um at the Catholic Church. I went to Lent, um, was that two weeks ago? And it's just so beautiful the way they celebrate, and they want to at Lent they sacrifice something to become closer to God. And we try to do that too in different ways. And so, you know, we might do it different, but it's the same thing. And I just I've loved learning about other religions and and just meeting people. I've made dear friends at all of these churches that I I hope we're friends forever.
SPEAKER_00What are some of the biggest challenges when trying to bring diverse communities together?
SPEAKER_03Great question. Uh it is very challenging. I think people put up barriers nowadays, and with religion, they feel like you're, you know, you're trying to steal their patrons. Especially when it's a business, when that's how they make their patrons, it's their livelihood. That's how they pay their bills. So I I can totally see where they're coming from. Um and and with politicians, there's, you know, same thing. It's a career and it's kind of cutthroat, and you know, you're getting pulled different ways, and you don't know who's gonna backstab you with that. And it's just but when people really get to know the person, no matter what the job or the religion is, I think, and you build a relationship, like a real relationship, you and you get to know them, you just think, wow, like we have so much in common and we all want what's best for the community, so let's just work together because it's hard, you know, there's a lot of need in different ways in the community, and and it's a lot of work, but if there's more of you, it's easier. So I just think why don't we all work together? And many hands makes light work, you know.
SPEAKER_00I do this little thing, it's called the glitter collective, and I just collect random items like self-care items, and I put them in a bag and I put a card with it, and it just says, You are loved, you are seen. If you're having a hard day, just know I'm thinking about you kind of thing. And I just give them randomly to people in the parking lot, just women. And some people are very resistant. They say, I don't want whatever you have, step back. And I'm like, I'm five, two in a glitter jacket. Like, what do you think I'm gonna do? Right. And then some are very receptive. They start crying, they give me a hug, they're grateful. So I guess it's that same kind of thing. Like, are they open to the idea or are they completely closed off? Totally. And it's only through now, if I knew those people, they would say, Oh, hi, how are you? And I would say, here's a bag. So if you have that relationship, it does make it easier to have those conversations and develop relationships.
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um, if people truly understood one thing about interfaith collaboration, what do you think it would be?
SPEAKER_03Oh, one thing that if we all work together, we could move things a lot faster. We can make miracles happen, you know? Like you can move mountains with just a bunch of faith-filled women. You really can't have a different face. Like you, you there's power in numbers, and so you know, just yeah, break down those barriers, come together and just small things. We could do something small together, like a little service project, but it would make a huge difference for an organization. Yes.
SPEAKER_00You also clearly um work very closely with just serve.org to coordinate service projects in the valley. Tell us about that partnership. What is just serve?
SPEAKER_03Okay, just serve is phenomenal. So I feel like most people in the world are so good and so amazing, and they want to serve, but there's a few reasons why they don't. One, they don't know where to start, they don't know where to look, they don't know what the need is. Um two, it's overwhelming. You know, you see the news and you're just like the world is just falling, and it's and you just feel this sorrow and it's just too much. So then you're just you know, you just give up. Um and a third reason I think is because um women, as we often do, we doubt ourselves or you know, we these little thoughts of fear come in, or you know, I don't have a degree, I'm not eloquent, you know, all these thoughts come in and you're like, what can I do? I you know, I can't do anything, and then you just you freeze out of fear. Um so just serve.org, I feel like helps with all of that. So it's free. It's free for the person who wants to volunteer, and it's free for the organizations that need help and want to post their their project. So it's a it's a website and an app, and it's global, it's in like 17 countries now, I think. And you can get on, and as a person who wants to volunteer, you can find a project. And for the organization, the nonprofit or government um agency or community that wants that needs help, they can post their project for free too. So it's for both um ends of the aisle. And you get on, it's very user-friendly, it's so simple. You get on, you find a project in your area, and there's it's endless the possibilities. If you if if it's too overwhelming, right, to go downtown into a an area you're unfamiliar with that's uncomfortable, that's okay. You can find a project where you can just drop something off. Um, or if you feel like you can do more, there's ones that, you know, there's a greater need where you can jump in and deliver food every week or you know, take a kid in the foster care under your wing.
SPEAKER_00So it's a I love just serve. It's um actually a platform that I uh push quite a lot. I really love it. I think it's a beautiful thing. And I had mentioned it to a friend of mine who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and I left her, I met her last summer here in Las Vegas at a competition we were in together. And she said, Tell me about this just serve. And so I told her, and she's not a member of our church at all, and she went on to just serve and she found lasagna love, and she said, I can make lasagna, I can do that. And she found a man who is in his late 80s, a veteran, and she called Arthur and she brought him lasagna, and she has brought him meals every month, freezer meals ever since. And she sends me pictures of Arthur. And I thought if everybody could find an Arthur in their community, she checks in on him, she brings a meal, she she checks to make sure he's okay. And I just I really love that she used just serve to find lasagna love or whatever the thing was. And I've put many projects on there as well. It's very easy to use. If your kids need um community service for school, just you type in your zip code and it pulls up all the different projects. It can be donations, it can be you go and do a project for a few hours. So definitely very user-friendly. You often collaborate, you kind of brushed on this already, with local politicians. Why are they so important?
SPEAKER_03They're crucial for our communities. Um, the laws and policies that pass make a huge difference on our lives and our families' lives and for businesses. And um, I think it's important that we build the bridges now and those relationships. And find common ground now because you don't know what laws and policies might end up passing. And sometimes it's shocking, right? 50 years ago, we wouldn't have thought about the things that are happening now. Right. And that's how it's going to be 50 years down the road, right? So and like I said, so many religions and people in the community believe the same things. And so if a law was to pass that affected all of us, if we could, we already have those bridges built, we call each other. We have this huge network to go and stand up before our politicians and say, none of us want this. You know. Um one experience that I've seen where this it worked out so beautifully was um there was uh I think it was in Henderson and they wanted to build, I think it was a synagogue. And the neighbors didn't want it, and people were going to their politicians and fighting it, protesting it, and and the land was it was I mean what they were doing was legal. It was okay for the synagogue to be built, but people were trying to shut them down. And luckily they had a relationship with our faith, and we were able to go in and help them, and then you know, they can turn around and return the favor. And then when we try to build a church or a temple and people protest it, that you know, that relationship is there, and we support each other's faiths, and we want everybody to worship how they want to, and so we support each other, and so you know.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Um, what are some service projects that you're involved with currently? It I've looked at so many that you sent over to me, they're all fantastic. Give me like your top three. I couldn't believe how many you're actually involved with. So give me your top three that you're working with right now and what they are.
SPEAKER_03Okay, there's so many amazing nonprofits in town for that people would just love to work with. But um one that's really important is Operation Home. There are so many homeless people in the community, and so they find they heavily vet the people and and families, and they on their end, they work on getting the houses for them to live in. But on our end, um, legally, you can't put a homeless person in a home if they don't have the basic necessities. So on our end, we do Operation Homeless Kit, and we put together these kits that when the when the people get presented, the families to this beautiful new place, we give them three kits, and there's a kitchen kit, a cleaning kit, and a bathroom kit. And we put those kits together. And it's you know, this simple thing, but it takes a lot of people and a lot of hands, and lots of people volunteer. Um so I love that project. Um, another one uh organization that we've been working with the last couple years is Spread the Word Nevada. Love it. They it's it's I love kids, I love all ages of children, and so any project that helps children is near and dear to me. But um, spread the word nevada, they bring books into low-income um areas, children at risk. And it's one of those things, you know, I have so many books at my house, so you don't even think about this need, but there's kids that have never touched a book and they're going to school here in town. It's it's crazy. So um you can donate, use books, or you can go down to their, they have a beautiful new facility and you can go help clean books. You can also volunteer to read to children down there for story time. Their new facility, I should give them a little shout out, it is big and beautiful. So, like a company could go in and host a company party and have a little service project while they're there. Um, anyways, wonderful organization. Um, another I work with iTalent to donate blood, which is crucial in our community. Yes, we do four blood drives a year with them and they're amazing. Um another thing we do every year is um September 11th, 9-11 day, day of remembrance and service. And so that's one where we work with a lot of politicians and uh we find a local park and we clean it up together. And that one I love because it's just people from all over anybody can do it. And it's fun.
SPEAKER_00Um, so that's a great are these all on just serve if I was to go look them up.
SPEAKER_03There are so many projects on just serve. And I mean you could also Google, you know, nonprofit organizations and give them a call and say, what can I do for you? But just serve makes it so easy. Just easy to find one. Um, another one that I just did a project for last month is the foster kinship organization. And there are so many kids in foster care in Nevada. Um, I know Child Haven is overwhelmed with children because we just did a project where we made birthday kits for them. And so it was really inexpensive, you know, birthday cake mix, just the box, the frosting, the cake pan, and some toy, a little toy. And then all the kids that go through their program get a little birthday bag. And so that was a fun project too.
SPEAKER_00That is amazing. I love all of those. Um, the book one is really interesting to me because in these new, even in new schools, like especially the charter schools, they don't have libraries. That's that's kind of old school. And so it's like these kids just don't have they're always on screens and doing computer work. So I love that they have, you know, a book. Yes. So that's that's a great one. You had also talked about the is it the crystal apple?
SPEAKER_03Yes, the crystal apple.
SPEAKER_00Can you tell me about that one?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I didn't come up with that idea. They have actually, our church has been doing that in Southern California, I think for like 30 years. And so when they um when I was made the communications director, they presented the idea to me and said, we'd love to start doing that in our community. So I researched it, I loved what they were doing. So I thought, yeah, we we could do this, and this is something that can pull everybody in from different walks of life and just say, you know, show gratitude, which always lifts spirits. So we do the Crystal Apple Awards once a year. And what we do is any high school student can nominate a teacher from any grade, K through 12, a teacher that inspired them or taught them to love to read, or took them under their wing, and you know, or taught them kindness or patience. So they they have to write a short essay about why they're nominating that teacher, and then we find that teacher. So sometimes they've moved, you know, or they're not teaching, or they're at a different school. So we hunt them down, we find them, and then we put on a beautiful award ceremony. So we have beautiful food and it's decorated, and we bring in politicians and CCSD trustees and faith leaders, and the principals come and we just shower these teachers with love. And it's a great opportunity because the kids see that giving gratitude is, you know, amazing, and they get to give a little speech in front of everybody, and and just watching the teachers' you know, emotion is just incredible. They're you know, it's it's a beautiful evening.
SPEAKER_00That's I haven't been to it, but I did see the nominations go out, and I thought that's a really great idea, especially because it's um student driven. It's not peer, like it's not the people you work with driven, peer-driven. So I think that really means a lot too. It's kind of like getting the congeniality award, you know, you that's like the hardest award to get, and it's like the most meaningful. Um so there was one project that you have been involved with, and it was um last year I went, it was the first year our community did this, and it was called Walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_03Walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Walk with Jesus. And it was just at our stake, like a building, a church building, and I didn't really know what I was going to initially.
SPEAKER_03I think people were confused. What is this? What is this?
SPEAKER_00And I found this to be one of the most remarkable and moving moments that I have ever felt religiously. And it's just a walkthrough of his life, of Jesus Christ's life. And the way that the rooms were set up was very well thought out, it was well organized, it was planned beautifully. And I'm not sure in our religion, we like to say the spirit was there, but there was a piece there that was in that building during this walk. Can you tell me a little bit about that and how it brings in other religious people or people that are non-religious? Did you have any experiences last year that really brought this to your attention?
SPEAKER_03So many amazing stories I could tell you. So the the goal behind that event was to strengthen our own members and our own church, but it was also to bring in the community and just celebrate the Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement all together. So to just focus on that common ground and come together, open to the public. Anybody could come. And before it happened, we went to, I believe it was 56 other churches and invited them. Um and some of them, you know, put up that wall and we're like, absolutely not. They, you know, they think we're gonna steal their patrons. And so we just tried to explain that this is just coming together and celebrating Jesus together. Um my favorite part of the whole event was listening to the other church leaders, the pastors, the priests bear their testimony of Jesus Christ in our chapel. Um, we had the Baptist church come with their guitars and drums and perform. Hadi Krishna came and did this little bell ceremony. It was just so many different beautiful things. Um, so Harry Hare Krishna, I just want to share this little miracle that happened. Um so they were sitting in the VIP sitting, seating for the show, and um we had different community um performers come in that weren't of our our faith, and so one of them was this group of flutists. I've never seen I've never seen six flutes play together, right? Usually it's a flute and a cello and a uh, you know, what all the instruments. So they got up there and I thought, this is so weird. I've never just seen six flutes or whatever. And I was sitting with Hetty Krishna, and they all of a sudden were freaking out. They were grabbing me, they were like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is meant to be. And I was like, what is it? And they pulled up on their phone and they said, in our religion, God plays the flute. And so they showed me that in all the pictures representing him, he's playing a flute. And I just thought, wow, we have this long event with performers coming non-stop, and the only performers right before they speak is this group. Like, what are the chances, you know? And we they just kept hugging me and they were like, wow, like this was meant to be, and they felt like God was talking to them, and that's how it was the whole throughout the planning, the execution, the event, the cleanup. I just saw God's hand throughout the whole event, and I I really think that he was happy that we were just coming together and loving each other and putting our differences aside, and it was amazing. We ended up having 6,200 people attend last year.
SPEAKER_00Do you feel like you were prepared for that many? The lines were long.
SPEAKER_03I do remember that. If you build it, they will come.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it was that it was that moment.
SPEAKER_03I think people that were doing it with me didn't, they thought just, you know, people in the war or stake would come in our in our congregation. And I kept thinking, I think people will come. I I hope they will. And I thought, you know, I'm sure we'll start small. And then my dream was that each year it would get bigger and more churches would come and and even maybe next year they would host it and we would help them. Like that's my dream. Um, so it, I mean, definitely God made that happen. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna have to build it, you're gonna have to, I don't know, crowd control to share appointments or something. It was, I just remember um being even my son, he's 11 and was kind of like, you know, didn't know what he was going into, didn't really care. And when he left, he was just quiet and he said, That was really special, really special.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you read, you know, growing up, if you are of a faith, you read these stories in a book, but you know, and sometimes you forget, like, oh, this is this is someone's real life. This was this happened. And so then when you walk through it and you can see the scenes and it and it looks real, yeah, it's a great reminder that wow, this really happened. He loves me.
SPEAKER_00I remember walking through it as well, and I'm like, whoever put this on, this was like their life's work. They've been prepared to do this, and that was you. So well done. Well done. It was beautiful. Anybody in the community that is looking for something this Easter, even if you're not religious, it but you want to know what Easter is about more than the Easter bunny, come and see.
SPEAKER_03Come and see.
SPEAKER_00There's no, you don't have to do anything, you just walk through and you can go home. Yep, nobody's gonna bug it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the music portion. A lot of people think the line was long. So this year it's gonna be four days. So I'm hoping to spread that out. And then if you want to just listen to the beautiful music from different faiths performing, you can just enter on the exiting side and go sit in the chapel, just listen for however long you want and leave. And yeah, so this year, too, we have um a choir and symphony from out north, the north part of town, coming, and they are incredible. Um, a lot of times they perform at Artemis Ham Hall with Jenny Oakes Baker, the renowned violinist. And then on Friday, um, we have two shows performing The Lamb of God, which is one of the most exquisite written music, and they're they're performing that in New York right now, I know. So that will be on Friday. So we have amazing, beautiful music, and we have um the company Haven Light that um works with a lot of the renowned artists all over the world, Christian artists that paint pictures of the savior and God. Um they're coming and they are bringing a full exhibit from Utah and with amazing art. So it's gonna be, and we have a couple surprises, we'll have something a big thing out in the in the parking lot. We have a few new things inside as well. But um, one of my favorite things we're doing this year is a service project. So we uh a couple times a year we help fill the pantry at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's Catholic Church. And so we've invited their priest to come bear testimony, and we are gonna do a food drive and hygiene drive for their pantry. So if people, if you can't bring anything, that's okay. Just still come, come to the walk. But if you're able to bring something, we're gonna have a place out in the parking lot where you can just drop it off and even one bottle of shampoo or you know, a box of cereal, whatever you have, we'd love it.
SPEAKER_00So I love that that you're partnering to do even more in the community. You have four kids. How do you balance everything that you do? I know that can be difficult for women. Um, some women work. I work with a lady, she has three jobs, she's a single mom. How do you balance it all? And the second part of this question is if you are that mom who's single, who has children, who is working, who is barely, barely staying alive, how can they serve?
SPEAKER_03Great question. Um, so I am very lucky. I don't have to work. So I get I get to stay home with my kids, and I am well aware that, you know, that's a lot easier than I I can't imagine. I don't know how those working moms do it. Like, hats off to them. Incredible women. Um but still I do get so overwhelmed sometimes, you know. You wake up and if you slept that night or you're awake all night just thinking of your to-do list the next day and worrying about your kids and worrying about your husband and you know, all the things. Um but I I think first things first, that's what I try to do. So if I I know if I wake up in the morning and connect with God, however, I am gonna do that, and just ask him, what do you need me to do today? And you know, put my priorities in order. Somehow it just works out. And sometimes if it is falling apart and I think, oh my gosh, I'm not prepared for this project, and I'm supposed to meet with this church or this politician, and my kid is you know struggling right now. I just I just have faith. It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna keep moving forward because sometimes that fear is all consuming, and then you just kind of stop or get apathetic and freeze. But if I just keep moving, I just trust God's gonna make it work. Like with The Walk with Jesus last year, it was a lot. There's a lot of moving parts to that, you know, the the security, the ushering, the air conditioning, all the things, you know. But I just prayed and was like, we're I'm just gonna keep moving and I know he's gonna make it work.
SPEAKER_00So and then how would you um help or give advice to somebody who feels overwhelmed in a different way than than you do, who's trying to provide um food for their children and who's barely hanging on? How can they serve? Where can they start?
SPEAKER_03So the thing about service is right, you think it's for someone else, but there's kind of a selfish side to service because sometimes being a woman is hard and you just kind of get in a rut and you just feel ugh, and you know, all those thoughts creep in. So sometimes I think I'm gonna go serve for me because I need a little rush of dopamine, and it makes me feel good, right? It's kind of like working out. The best drug ever. Yes, it is the best. I need a little hit of dopamine. So you do, you go serve for a selfish reason. I'm gonna it's gonna make me feel better, it's gonna put my priorities and my perspective back in order. And you know, and for my kids, we are always worried about our kids. And when you're struggling and you have a hard life, then it's even harder. So for my kids, I want them to go serve for selfish reasons for them so that they, you know, will be able to get through their hard times.
SPEAKER_00It definitely gives them purpose. And I know that in my darkest times, and I've had some really dark times, it was never this huge act of service. Nobody came and scooped me up and just made it all happen. It was always the small and simple acts of others. It was a ride for my child, it was a text, how are you doing? That sort of thing. And I think sometimes as women, we think that it does need to be this grand gesture. If you are working hard for your children, if you smile at somebody, if you just ask somebody how they are, but really mean it, you are serving the community. A smile can go a long way, and those are free. Yep. Those are free.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I, you know, there's some women I working as the communications director and with just serve, I have met incredible people. And sometimes I think, oh my gosh, I'm I am not that incredible. I can't do that, and I can't, and that's okay, but I can do something. You can do something, everybody can do something, right? Um, I have a lady at my church, Patricia. Shout out to Patricia. I think she's had over a hundred kids in her home. Her husband died of a heart attack playing basketball at the church, and she just keeps fostering and adopting. And I mean, I can't imagine. I look at her and I think I could never be Patricia.
SPEAKER_00But I can do something.
SPEAKER_03I can do something, but I can I can drop off a meal. Yes. Or I could donate one box of cereal. And I don't think you my kids are gonna think, oh, she only dropped off a box. My kids are gonna think, wow, my mom serves the poor, you know. So we all can do something. It doesn't matter how big, but it has the same effect. And if if and as the person behind the scenes who's planning the events, I I I know nobody's gonna show up with a truckload of food, a semi-truck, but I just will pray and think I need 50 moms to drop off one bag of something of some soup, canned soup, right? And that's all I'm praying for. And they do, you know, all one mom will show up with a box of crackers and soup, and the next one shows up with a box of cereal, and they answered my prayers. And so it does not have to be huge, it just has to be something small. And then when a bunch of people do that, it moves mountains.
SPEAKER_00It really does. So, this is the question I ask everybody at the end of our interviews. What do you want your legacy to be?
SPEAKER_03Oh, I hope everybody who meets me or knows me knows that I am a follower of Jesus Christ and that I tried, I'm not perfect, but I tried to live my life that way. Um, I hope my kids know that, and I hope my kids know that being a mother was my greatest work.
SPEAKER_00That was beautiful. Thank you for interviewing with me today, Michelle. I really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, Jules. You are amazing. I have watched you, you're one of the women that I have watched from afar, and I just think, man, she has been through it, and you just keep smiling and going, and you're amazing.
SPEAKER_00So thank you.