It was with a heavy heart that I walked into the Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo on Monday night. Richard had been looking forward to this night for weeks- ever since he learned that Gandhi Brigade had been selected by the Montgomery County Commission on Children and Youth to receive the Nancy Dworkin Award for Outstanding Service to Youth. Instead, just a few days before, he would fall ill and have to be hospitalized and I would be be there in his place.

That night, part of me was just so proud of Gandhi Brigade for being selected to receive the Award. The Montgomery County Commission on Children and Youth does amazing work and the fact that they selected Gandhi Brigade to receive their Organization Award was a high honor. Just a few hours before I arrived at Glen Echo, when I visited Richard in the hospital, I saw for myself the light in his eyes when he spoke about how much the Award meant to him and the organization. At the same time, I knew how much he wanted to be there. How much he deserved to be there and how much it would have meant to the audience to hear him speak. My own words could never carry the power or convey the love that his would impart talking about the organization he created and spent years building to empower youth to find their own voice.

Any heaviness in my heart lifted once I heard Zach Kahn, a youth member of the Commission describe the work of Gandhi Brigade. Zach’s own voice was so powerful and strong and his words so evocative…describing the great work Gandhi Brigade does in the Community. Work that has touched so many lives and work that needs to continue as we strive for justice for all. Zach told the audience about the hundreds of youth who found a pathway through Gandhi Brigade to lend their voices to striving for equality and he spoke of the change that had come about as a result of their continued efforts. And later when I spoke, all I felt was love. And all I saw in the eyes of the people in the audience was love… for Richard, the man who couldn’t be with them, but whose work touched them so deeply that they all joined together in honoring him.

Vicki Warren
Chair, Gandhi Brigade Board