Sometimes, donations are more than just money.
Bison Financial Group presented their generous donation of $1,400 to Memorial Opera House on Monday. In the intimate setting of Bison Financial Group’s office, people from both parties mingled, joked, and exchanged stories.
The donation actually came last month in the form of advertising space purchased by Bison Financial Group, which has bought the back cover of Memorial Opera House’s programs again this year. Their commitment to the Opera House reaches beyond this, however, as anyone who has recently attended a Lunchtime Caberet Performance in the past year can attest! Senior Vice President Paul Kuzemka and Financial Advisor Dan Styf have been volunteering and will continue to volunteer their time as ushers for these performances.
“We look forward to doing that. We go to every Cabaret … and help usher there and hand out the programs. That’s a lot of fun – just interacting with the patrons that come to those Cabarets – so we look forward to doing that again in a few weeks,” Kuzemka said with a smile.
The relationship between these two important community institutions is obviously more than financial, as the people in attendance engaged in friendly and familiar banter while waiting for the check presentation and after it was over. One of the strengths of any community is the quality of the relationships around us. It’s inspiring to know that there are people in our midst who influence their companies to shape our lives with mutual kindness and appreciation for one another.
Michelle Smith, Memorial Opera House’s business director, was very happy about this donation from Bison Financial Group and the continuing support of Kuzemka’s and Styf’s volunteer work. The Opera House is an ever-expanding community staple and relies upon donations of time, money, and interest. The Opera House becomes more and more relevant each day.
“There are so many young children that aren’t exposed to the arts in the world that we have today. And everything’s so chaotic and everyone is so busy. The Opera House gives them the opportunity to have one place where they go and they enjoy the arts. They get to see musical presentations, Broadway shows, concerts, we have a children’s theater program that just started, and we really fill the gap for a lot of people in the community as far as the arts. With the schools losing funding for their arts programs and all of that cut out… we really are such a part of the community,” noted Smith.
“We at Bison are really pleased to continue to support Memorial Opera House with this donation. They do fantastic work and we’re just really pleased to be involved and to continue to support them. They put on such great, quality productions. We volunteer at the Opera House, so when we see people come out and enjoy the productions, we see the effect it has on the people that take advantage of the Opera House being in the community. It’s just something that I wish more people took advantage of because they do such a great job there,” hailed Kuzemka.
This continued partnership is one of many that makes our community so wonderful. Get out to some of Memorial Opera House’s fabulous shows this year – ANYTHING GOES (until March 9), COMPANY (April 25-May 11), THE GLASS MENAGERIE (June 13-29), DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (July 25-August 10), PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE (September 12-28), THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (October 31-November 6), and ANNIE (December 5-21). Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. For more information, visit www.memorial operahouse.com.
If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll even get to meet Paul Kuzemka and Dan Styf of Bison Financial Group!