A Holiday Collection:
Songs and Stories to Celebrate the Season
Fri., Dec. 16th at 7:00 PM
Sat., Dec. 17th at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
In the Historic Theater
Come Celebrate the Joys of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and
Lakota Traditions with Music and Stories of the Holiday Season!
This production offers a more contemplative approach to the holidays as they draw near. It will feature music and stories from various traditions … Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Lakota … by local musicians and actors to better represent our diverse community. The Lakota teach “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ” – that “we all are related” – and Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanza celebrations all feature lighted candles … to serve as signs of hope in dark times. Our hope is that the program provides an opportunity to indulge in stillness for a short time … and offers some quiet and respite from the noise that often accompanies the holidays. The show offers a metaphor for the season and how we humans should BE in relation to one another – regardless of faith, race, and/or other differences between us. There is a song that says, “the secret of Christmas is not the things you do at Christmas time, but the Christmas things you do all year through.” May that be guidance for all of us, no matter what our traditions might be.
THE ONEHEART VISION BECOMES REALITY
Nearly four years after a “transformation campus” was first proposed as a way to reduce poverty and homelessness in the Rapid City community, OneHeart: A Place for Hope & Healing opened its doors to its first clients on January 4, 2021. The mission of OneHeart is to create pathways for those desiring to thrive by eliminating or mitigating the many barriers that typically prevent people from escaping the crisis of poverty. It is a workforce development program like no other – fostering stability by providing transitional housing and other basic needs at no cost to program participants (OneHeart “guests”) so they can focus on healing from past traumas, gain further access to education, and improve job and life skills. The OneHeart organization has served nearly 375 residents since opening – more than half of them children. By breaking the cycle of poverty in families, lives are changed for future generations.
THE VISIONARY – RAY HILLENBRAND
“A Holiday Collection: Songs and Stories to Celebrate the Season” is dedicated to the memory of businessman and philanthropist Ray Hillenbrand and all OneHeart graduates. In the last few years of his life, Ray focused on an initiative that sought to make Rapid City “the most caring community of its size in the nation.” OneHeart was born out of those efforts, and Ray was OneHeart’s biggest supporter prior to his death in May 2019. “We couldn’t have opened the doors to OneHeart without Ray,” said Charity Doyle, Executive Director. “We want to make him proud of our work on campus every single day, and his legacy lives on in every person who leaves the campus with a place to love, steady employment, and a better quality of life.”